Red Snow
by bahahumbug
Summary: House and Cameron on a snowy night meet with a tragic fate. Now they must deal with the possiblity that it wasn't an accident as they struggle to recover from their injuries. HCameron, HouseWilson friendship
1. Chapter 1

Wilson took Cuddy's hand after they were out of the building. She looked especially lovely tonight in a low cut red dress, her hair up showing her perfect neck. He smiled at the thought of his lips on that neck once they got back to her place. The fundraiser had been exceptionally successful tonight, everyone had been on their best behavior, including House...incredibly. Wilson thought that it had to be Cameron's good influence on him. They had been "secretly" seeing each other since the whole carpet incident. It took a while for Wilson to figure it out, and now it was pretty certain that Foreman and Chase had figured it out. He led Cuddy out to the car, opening the door for her, it was just beginning to snow again, he could see his breath wisping in the crisp winter air. He hadn't seen House or Cameron leave, and hoped that they were in her car. He shut the door and ran to his side, sheltered from the elements.

Cuddy looked toward him and smiled, "What are you thinking?"

"Nothing really. Just thinking about House and Cameron, certainly they drove her car tonight?"

"What makes you think that they came together tonight?" Her eyebrow arched inquisitively.

He smirked, his own eyebrow in his bangs, "Surely you've seen a slight difference in House's behavior lately, or the way that Cameron has started acting around him, a feeling of familiarity, the secret glances, and eye contact?"

Cuddy thought for a moment, she had seen Cameron leaving an exam room last week, and then House afterward. She looked a little flush, I put it down as House being...well House and upsetting her. Maybe she was flushed for another reason.."a smile lit her face, "come to think of it, House looked a little more rumpled than normal" Wilson laughed.

"I'm glad. I haven't said anything to House, I don't want to chance that he'll put up any walls that she's pulled down". Cuddy nodded her agreement.

They had pulled out of PPTH and were heading toward Cuddy's, the snow had picked up somewhat, whirling white before them. In the distance, they could see the red/blue flashing lights of a patrol car. Traffic was backed up, someone had probably slid off of the road. He could hear sirens getting nearer, the red lights of the ambulance reflected in his rearview mirror, then passed them on the shoulder of the road. The traffic inched slowly forward, and Wilson could see that there were two patrol cars and two ambulances on the scene. Then he heard a familiar sound coming from above, chopper blades.

Cuddy looked up through the windshield, "God it must be bad, the medflight was called. Maybe we should stop and see if they need help." Wilson nodded his head, he had a bad feeling that he couldn't explain as they neared the accident site. As they slowly passed, Wilson caught something familiar in his peripheal vision...a yellow motorcyle.

"HOUSE!" Cuddy looked at him sharply.

"James what is it?" and then she turned to look at the site and saw the same thing that he did, as he pulled over to the shoulder of the road, ignoring the state trooper that was motioning him to continue forward on the road. He jumped out of his vehicle, not even remembering if he shut it off, and flashed his ID at the officer and proceeded at a run to the ambulances. Cuddy wasn't far behind, her heels impeding her progress. She could see Wilson running through the snow, slipping ever so often because of his dress shoes not meant for inclement weather.

Wilson could see the amount of blood on the ground, the sharp red stains against the white snow. So much blood. He couldn't think about that now, he had to find what had happened. Where was House? Was Cameron with him? Surely not, what madness would posess her to climb on that motorcycle in a formal? He was brought out of his thoughts by a paramedic.

"Sir, can I help you?"

"I need to know what has happened. I'm Dr. James Wilson from Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. I believe that my friend Dr. Gregory House was involved in this accident. I recognized his motorcycle." The paramedic nodded and motioned for Wilson to follow as he began to tell him what had happened. Wilson could see the mediflight landing in the clearing, snow wafting aournd them.

"We have a male late 40's", Wilson nodded, "suffered internal injuries, unconcious, broken right arm, several ribs, possible concussion, with a multitude of scrapes and abrasions. We've got the bleeding stopped...what we can see." He led Wilson to the first ambulance where he could see House lying on a gurney. Two paramedics working on him. His tux, covered in blood, had been cut so that they could tend to the more severe of his injuries. He had a neck brace on to keep him from moving his head too much. If House was in here, then who was the medi-flight for?

He looked to the paramedic, who seemed to know what he was asking. "Who is the medi-flight for? I see that House is in that ambulance?" Wilson turned suddenly, when had Cuddy appeared next to him? Both knew the answer, even before the paramedic started to speak.

"Female. Early thirties, head trauma, spinal injury, internal bleeding, cuts and contusions, broken leg..." he paused " she coded...twice. Massive blood loss. The chopper is for her. They just loaded her up."

"Take her to Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. I'll call ahead and have the trauma team on the roof ready to receive her, and I'm riding with her. Wilson, you ride with House. I'll meet you there." Wilson nodded at Cuddy as he saw her head over with the paramedic toward the medi-flight. As soon as she was on board, the blades picked up speed, blowing snow like a blizzard. Wilson shielded his eyes as it rose higher and headed south toward the hospital. He turned to see the same paramedic watching with him. "Sir? We are almost ready to head out ourselves. Are you riding with us or following in your car?"

Wilson looked at him and shook him himself. "I'm riding with you, let me let the trooopers know that I'm going to leave my car here. Do I have time for that?" The paramedic looked inside the ambulance and nodded, "About five minutes". Wilson just nodded.

The officer was standing near the crumpled bike, making notes, and looked up upon Wilson's approach. "Hit and run." For a moment, Wilson didn't realize that the officer had spoke, and then he realized what he was telling him as he continued. "Hit and run. The bastard that hit them didn't even stop to see if anyone was injured. It's lucky that the car that was about a 500 yards behind saw what happened and called 911." Wilson only nodded.

"I'm going with the ambulance and wanted to let you know that my car will have to stay here."

"If you leave me your keys, I'll make sure that it makes it back to the hospital." He smiled at Wilson's expression. "Look, I'll even give you my card and my badge number. I know that you need to go with them." Wilson nodded as he handed over his keys and his card.

"Thank you." With that he ran back to the ambulance and climbed in just before they slammed the doors shut and sped off towards PPTH. Wilson looked out the back window of the ambulance, the flashing red lights reflected on the snow. He caught site of the red stains on the pristine white snow. It wasn't right, red snow... a groan turned his attention back to the patient, his best friend. He moved closer as he saw House's eyes flutter open, "Allison". It was barely a whisper.

"House, Allison is on the way to PPTH. Everything is going to be ok. Do you remember what happened?" Wilson was gripping House's left arm, he could see the confused look on his friends face, his heartrate increased, breathing becoming ragged. He was beginning to panic and move against the restraints on the stretcher.

"ALLISON!" His eyes rolled up into his head, body stiff, as he began to seize.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Wilson couldn't move, 'I should be helping..doing something', but he absolutely couldn't move. He saw his friend's body arching and twitching with the effects of the seizure. The paramedics had slipped a mouth guard between his lips to keep him from biting his tongue. His vitals were all over the place. One of the paramedics looked to Wilson.

"Do you know if he is on any medication?"

Wilson had a shake himself from his frozen state, "He's taking Vicodin for this leg...probably 100mg a day" The paramedics eyes opened wide, but he didn't say anything. That was a pretty high dose of vicodin, and he had to mentally check off all of the medications that they had administered on site, there had been the Demerol that had been administered on site for the pain. It looked like his patient was having an allergic reaction to something, but he didn't know what, or his concussion was more serious than they initially thought.

"Do you know if he is allergic to any medications?" Wilson thought for a moment and shook his head, then voiced it "No...no I don't think so" It was really starting to sink in, his best friend was lying there and he was doing nothing to help. What was wrong with him? He was a doctor. Still those guilty thoughts could not spur him into action. He vaguely heard the paramedics "Administer 4mg of Ativan". Slowly the monitors returned to almost normal as the seizure calmed. Wilson looked out, they were getting close to the hospital...'hold on House'

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The blades thumped above her, hurling them toward PPTH. Cuddy watched as the EMTs worked urgently over Cameron. She had been strapped to a backboard, her neck in a brace, lines running into her from all directions, they had already intubated her, and she watched at the medical team calmly pumped air into her lungs. Her heart was still beating, that was one good thing. It was the amount of blood that Cuddy found shocking, how did she still have any for her heart to pump. Her face was swollen, a large gash across her forehead. Cuddy had to wonder what the hell they were doing on that motorcycle in this weather. It was the first time that she noticed that Cameron was at least not still in her formal dress, she had somehow taken the opportunity to change into jeans and leather jacket. That alone had probably protected her from other injuries. The flight crew had given her a helmut so that she could hear what was happening. "Our ETA to PPTH is 2 min. Emergency personnel are standing on the roof."

A soft thump and coordinated caos ensued. The PPTH staff came running, Cuddy could see that the two doctors leading the gurney were Foreman and Chase, still dressed in their tuxes. Wind whipping the snow on the roof, two men in tuxes pushing a gurney, helping to transfer the patient and then running back toward the building. Cuddy realized that she was just standing there, the snow twirling around her, blowing so hard that it was stinging her skin...she started to follow them at a run.

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The doors to the ambulance crashed open, Wilson hopped out and was suddenly surrounded by activity. He followed the ER personnel into the hospital, running beside House's gurney. He was still unconsious.

Once inside he was met by Foreman, and Wilson looked at him, "Cameron is in surgery. She had massive blood loss from internal bleeding, they don't know the extent yet. She wasn't breathing on her own when they brought her. Chase is in the OR. Cuddy let us know that you were on your way in with House. How is he?"

"Concussion. He suffered a seizure on the way in, the administered Ativan. I'm not sure if it was because of the head injury or because of the mix of Demerol with his vicodin. His right arm is broken. I'm sure that he has some internal injuries. Various cuts and abrasions...", Wilson shook his head, "what the hell were they thinking being on that motorcycle?." He looked up at Foreman, and could see the natural brotherly protectiveness that he had for Cameron manifesting itself into anger toward House. "It wasn't his fault, it was a hit and run. Could have happened even if they were driving in a car..." He drifted off. He wasn't sure if he was trying to reassure Foreman or himself. His thoughts were interrupted.

"Dr. Wilson?" It was the ER resident. "We've stablized Dr. House. He has suffered a pretty serious concussion, broken his right arm, they are casting it now, two broken ribs. Amazingly enough, his legs seemed only to have sustained bruises and some cuts and scrapes. His pupils are reactive, but I'd still like to run a CT and ECG to make sure that there aren't any problems." He stopped and looked at Foreman, who nodded his approval. "He'll be moved to ICU in about an hour and a half. I'll keep you updated on his condition. We've sedated so that he'll sleep for the next 12 hours or so."

"He suffered a seizure in the ambulance."

"We are keeping him on a dose of Phenytoin to minimize any reoccurrance. We have been notified that Dr. Cuddy will be his primary physician" Wilson nodded. He was too close to be House's primary. Wilson could see House lying on the bed inside, monitors hooked up, they had cut his clothing off, and he was now covered in a blue hospital sheet. He looked pale, they still had his neck brace on to keep him from making any sudden movements. It was at that moment that the blinds closed on the room, presumably to give House more privacy as they continued their examination.

He hadn't realized that Foreman was still standing next to him until he felt his hand on his shoulder, "He'll be alright. It's House right?" Wilson wasn't sure if he was trying to reassure. Wilson only nodded in agreement.

"Wilson!" Cuddy was striding down the hallway toward them. Her dress now dirty, speckles of blood on it. Her hair a wild mess, she looked like the Medusa that House was always accusing her of being. "House?" Wilson pointed toward the ER and relayed what he had just been told. She shook looked concerned. She was going to head into look at his chart.

"Cameron?" Foreman searched Cuddy's face for any clue.

"She's still in surgery. Loss of blood, cuts, contusions, broken left wrist, sprained right ankle, no head trauma, that was a blessing..." She stopped, not sure how to proceed, but decided to just plow ahead. "She also has a spinal injury. It's unsure of the extent of the damage at this point." She headed toward House's room to check his chart.

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House was surrounded by sounds. He sounded like he was under water, everything was muted. He tried to open his eyes, but the he was lost in the waves of the drugs. Somewhere he heard voices, it was so muffled, but he thought that he recognized them. Where was he? What had happened? That's when the realization finally hit..the motorcycle...flying through the air...then the pain..seeing Cameron's crumpled body not far from his...ALLISON...

Wilson could see the heart monitor increase...House was starting to gain consciousness. "House, can you hear me? House?" A nurse was suddenly next to him, of course, they monitored the machines in here and would have registered that he was coming around. "Page Dr. Cuddy and Dr. Foreman" She nodded and headed back out of the room.

A groan escaped House's lips. God, it hurt so much, but he had to fight through the murk and pain if only to find out what had happened. "House?" This time he heard Wilson correctly. His eyes fluttered open, he looked confused. Wilson watched as he squinted his eyes shut, and quickly dimmed the lights in the room.

"Wilson.." it was barely a croak. Ice chips met his lips, and then into his mouth. He welcomed the much needed moisture against his parched throat, and tried again, "Wilson...Cameron?"

"House do you know where you are?"

"Hospital"

"Do you remember what happened?"

"Yes...accident. Cameron??"

"She is just coming out of surgery. She suffered a some internal injuries, a couple of broken bones." He left the spinal injury out, he didn't want to upset House if possible.

"House...glad to see that you survived. How do you feel?" Foreman was getting his penlight out and walking toward House.

"Head hurts" Foreman nodded as he leaned over House and pulled up his each eyelid, flashing his penlight.

"Looks like normal response..." He stopped because he saw the complete look of panic cross House's face, the heart monitor increased. "What is it?"

"I can't see..."

TBC

DISCLAIMER: House, M.D. is the property of Fox and various other corporations


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Wilson and Foreman looked across House exchanging a concerned look, as he struggled to sit up in his bed. House felt a hand on each of his shoulders gently restraining him, pushing him back down on the bed. "House listen to me.." the voice was soft near his left ear "you need to relax. You suffered a head injury and this is probably temporary. I'll set up a CT scan and an ECG. Your pupils are reacting within normal parameters, so it's unlikely that the problem lies there. I want to finish the neuro exam to see if there are any other problems." House laid back, try to relax. The darkness was disconcerting with his eyes open, he closed them and actually did everything that Foreman asked of him.

"Your motor skills and other neurological skills seem to be intact. It's probably cortical blindness, brought on by the head trauma, it should resolve itself 24 hours or so." House just kept his eyes closed, not trusting himself to speak. He thought of Cameron, in surgery, his fault. Wilson wasn't telling him something, he was a terrible liar. He sniffed, he could smell a particularly sweet smell. "Do you smell that? It's sweet." He smirked, "Been in a broom closet with your Ped's nurse?" His unseeing eyes popped open.

Wilson looked at him then at Foreman, Foreman's eyes widening with realization. He was already hitting the call button, House was heading into another seizure, his head thrown back as he lost control of his body. There wasn't time to get anything in his mouth, a trickle of blood escaped his lips. Wilson could only hope that he hadn't bitten completely through his tongue. "2mg Ativan" A syringe was suddenly in his hands, he administered it into the IV port. Minutes later, the drug started to take effect. Together, Wilson and Foreman gently turned House on his left side as he began to retch, emptying his stomach content, dry heaves wracking his body.

House felt exhausted. His body ached from his injuries and the seizures and vomiting weren't helping. He struggled to control his breathing, focusing on that for a moment. Breathe in, breathe out. His head was throbbing, he could still feel Wilson's hand on his shoulder. _Just give me a minute, a minute to pull myself together._ He began to drift and then let the drugs drag him down and into unconsciousness. He thought about how beautiful Cameron was at the benefit. They had agreed to arrive at the hospital separately, and he had assumed that they would leave the same way meeting at his place. She had surprised him afterwards when she had changed into jeans and the leather jacket. He loved the way that she felt against his back when they were on the bike. They fit together, her arms tight around him, her chest against his back. The power of the motorcycle beneath them, he could feel the happiness filling his chest. He could see a car approaching too fast from behind them and moved his bike closer to the shoulder of the road. Still the car advanced on them, surely it meant to pass them. He tapped his break a couple of times to catch the attention of the fastly approaching vehicle, alerting it to their presence. He could swear that it had increased speed. He started looking for somewhere to pull off, to get out of it's way. He could feel Cameron gripping him tighter as he increased his speed. The headlights were bright against the bike, his heart pounding, pulling the bike over as far as he could, he started to relax when the car pulled into the other lane….

He awoke drenched in sweat, shook himself, rubbing his face with his left hand. His mouth dry, a metallic taste, mixed in with the unpleasant taste of bile…he had to concentrate to keep from being nauseous.

"Dr. House? Can you hear me?" One of the nurses, he opened his eyes, although he didn't know why he bothered, it was just as dark. At least when they were closed, he could pretend that there wasn't a problem. He didn't dare hope that Foreman was correct and that this sightlessness was only temporary.

"Dr. House?" Her voice was more concerned higher pitched…_more irritating…_he smirked at the thought.

"Yes" His voice was gravelly. He felt her pass a ice chip across his lips, and then took it into his mouth, it gave blessed relief. His body felt detached, they must have increased the pain meds, he was still floating a little.

"Where's Dr. Wilson….Cuddy?"

"Dr. Cuddy is on her way. We've alerted her that you have regained consciousness." The nurse didn't go into any more detail. She knew that Dr. House could be difficult given certain situations, and she didn't want to do anything that would warrant that being unleashed on her.

House could hear the distinct clicking of Cuddy's heels nearing his door.

"House how do you feel?" He could feel her hands on his face, heard the sound of her penlight as she checked his pupils.

"How do I look?", when she didn't immediately respond, "How is Cameron?"

He heard her sit in the chair next to him, and a lead weight settled on his stomach, it had to be bad if she was sitting.

"She's going to live." House let out a breath that he hadn't even realized that he had been holding. She seemed not to know how to proceed.

"But? There's something else. Wilson was holding back something before, what is it?"

"House, I'm not sure that in your present condition – "

"CUDDY….", He was almost pleading, "COME ON…WHAT ABOUT CAMERON?"

"She suffered a serious spinal injury….we won't know the true extent of the injury until the swelling goes down, and she regains consciousness." House turned his face away from her voice as she continued. "We believe that she is paralyzed from the waist down." She could see House flex his uninjured had, gripping the sheets so tightly that his knuckles were white.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Cuddy waited to see if House was going to speak before she continued. His face still turned away from her, his expression hidden by the early evening shadows that filled the room.   
"The damage to her spinal cord is between T1-T2, at this point the swelling is hiding what the extent of the contusion has caused. We've started her on Solu Medrol, and hope to see some improvement over the next 72 hours." She paused and stood next to his bed, "You know what the chances are….slim, but the placement of the injury and the fact the that once the swelling goes down, surgery could relieve the pressure…she could make a full recovery". She took a step back when he suddenly faced her, his unseeing eyes looking just past her, but blazing with fury.

"Slim?! I went to medical school, got a degree and everything…it's less than slim. I've put her in a wheelchair for the rest of her life! Don't turn this into some damn fairy tale with a happy ending!" Cuddy physically took a step back from his bed. He continued, his tirade, "Perfect. A blind cripple and a paraplegic…we'll go to the first of the line everytime." She could see that this was only escalating, she hadn't realized how seriousness of the relationship between the two co-workers. She was surprised at the amount of concern that House had over Cameron's condition.

"House, it was an accident, and from all of the reports, it wasn't your fault. There was nothing that you could have done differently."

"Is she awake?"

"No, she's in recovery now. She's been immobilized to prevent any further damage."

"I don't want her to know that I'm blind, do you understand? She doesn't need to know that."

Cuddy looked at him and was glad that he couldn't see the pity in her face because he would rail against it. "It won't change how she feels –"

"Get out. I don't feel like _sharing_ any more."

"Foreman should be in soon with the results from your CT scan and MRI – "

"What part of GET OUT don't you understand?" She turned to leave, but quickly glanced back, and saw him push his button for the morphine, eyes closed, his left arm came up and rested across his eyes. She didn't know how much more misery he could possibly take in one lifetime. She hoped that Foreman was right and that his sight would return. He seemed to be optimistic about that, for House's sake, she hoped that he was right. She paged Wilson to let him know that House was conscious again.

Cameron became aware of sounds around her, familiar sounds of the hospital. She couldn't move, immobilized. Why was she here? Was this real? She could hear someone calling her name from a long way off. She knew that she was intubated, she could feel herself trying to control her gag reflex, her eyes fluttering open, she squinted a couple of times before they came into focus. She couldn't move her head and when she looked down her body, she could see that she was in complete traction. The beeping on the ECG monitor increased.

"Cameron can you hear me?" Her eyes focused above her to meet the worried face of Dr. Foreman. "I know you can't talk and we have you immobilized, if you understand me blink your eyes once." Cameron did as he asked. She was trying not to panic, but she was a doctor and she knew what the implications were of her current predicament.

"Good. I think that you are breathing well enough on your own now. I'm going to take extubate you, you know the drill blow out when I tell you to." He undid the clasps, "Ok now" as he gently removed the tube. Cameron had a coughing fit and before she could ask for it, ice chips were offered against her parched lips.

"House?", it was barely a whisper.

"Concussion. Broken right arm. Contusions. Couple of bruised ribs. He'll be fine." He decided that he would not tell her about the blindness, he didn't want to incur the wrath of House and it would probably correct itself in a couple of days. Cuddy had informed them that House did not want Cameron worrying about him. Foreman had to wonder how long they had been a couple and how he could have missed it. There were probably a hundred little hints that he should have picked up on. He turned his attention back to Cameron.

"Let's focus on you. I'm going to do a quick neuro exam ok?" Cameron started to nod and realized that she was incapable of that movement, and spoke softly "Yes". He was able to to complete the first portion of her exam easily. He moved toward the end of the bed and gently turned back the sheet that was covering her feet. He looked up and saw that she was watching him intently. She knew, she was a doctor, of course she knew. He watched as she bit her lip, he reached in and ran the metal stick up the bottom of her foot. Her foot didn't curl like it should. "Could you feel that at all, Cameron?"

"No." She said it so softly that it sounded only as if she was letting out a breath. Foreman continued onto her left foot, repeating the motion. She answered is unasked question. "No." He looked up into her eyes, they were brimming with unshed tears. He didn't want to give her any false hope.

"Your spinal cord is still intact, and we have you on steriods to facilitate minimizing the swelling. I've contacted an excellent neurosurgeon who will be able to review your case and see when we can go from there." Cameron didn't say anything. This was such a stupid thing to happen. It had been her idea to ride the bike back to House's place. She was the one who changed clothes, and talked him into it. Now she was most likely paralyzed. At least House was going to be alright. She knew that he probably blamed himself.

"Hey Cameron, glad to see that you are awake!" Chase had just come in the door, and stopped once he saw what Foreman was doing. "House has been asking about you, maybe we can get him up and in here for a visit sometime today." Foreman shot him a look, but covered it quickly so that Cameron wouldn't become suspicious. What was Chase up to, he knew that House, in his current condition, wasn't going to come and visit Cameron.

"Let's get you through today. I think that House needs another day to rest himself before he gets out of that bed - " Foreman was interrupted by Chase again.

"Nonsense, I'm sure that House can't wait to see Cameron." Chase was smiling broadly now, he looked very satisfied with himself.

Foreman approached Cameron again. "Are you feeling any discomfort right now? Head hurt at all? Blurry vision?"

"No, my head feels fine, vision is good" Foreman nodded. That was at least a good sign. She had suffered head trauma, but it hadn't been as serious as House. He wondered if she had been the only one wearing a helmut. "We're going to let you rest for now. Try to relax and get some more sleep. I'm going to have the nurse give you another sedative to help you sleep." He patted her hand. They had come a long way in becoming friends since he had published that article, it had taken time. Right now, he wanted to wring Chase's neck for what he was attempting. He knew that it drove him crazy that Cameron wanted House instead of him, but he didn't have to hurt her while striking out at House.

"We'll see you later Cameron. I'll keep you updated on House ok?" He nodded his head toward the door so that Chase would follow him. When it didn't look like Chase was going to budge, Foreman grabbed his forearm, and guided him out into the hall and far away from the room so that Cameron wouldn't be able to overhear them.

"Chase, what the hell was that?! You know that House isn't going to come and visit her until he resolves the problem with his sight."

Chase sneered, "Yeah, because he knows that she isn't going to stay with an old blind cripple." Foreman moved closer, he wanted to slug the guy. Here were their two colleagues injured, suffering and he was plotting revenge because he felt slighted by his superior.

"Listen...no matter how you feel about House, it's unfair to punish Cameron, to make her miserable. Do you think that she needs anything else dramatic to happen to her right now. My god, she very likely will be parazlyed from the waist down for the rest of her life. The last thing that she needs is you fucking around with her life." At that last word, he pushed his index finger into Chase's head to make his point. Chase looked down at the floor, but when he looked up, Foreman could see the insolence there, daring him to push him again. Without saying anything else, Chase turned and left. Foreman was going to have to talk with Wilson. He didn't trust Chase, he was definitely up to something.

House had fallen into a trouble sleep, but managed with the help of the morphine and the 2 vicodin that he had browbeaten the nurse into giving him- to sleep until the nurse woke him taking his vitals that next morning. He felt the blood pressure cuff tightening on his arm. He wanted to see Cameron, hear her voice, know that she was going to be ok. He knew that no matter how badly she was injured, she would be more concerned about him. It was all overwhelming. He rubbed at his eyes, the nurse was leaning over him, predictably checking the morphine pump or his IV. He opened his eyes, not expecting to see anything, but immediately shut them against the bright lights in the room. He moaned, his head was throbbing. The nurse stopped and looked down at him.

"Are you in pain?"

"Dim the lights" His voice was weak, he could taste the bile in his mouth, fighting the uneasiness in his stomach, he squinted again. The nurse had dimmed the lights and was now leaning over him. He could make out her face but anything beyond her was just random blurry objects. She was studying him, and he was taken back a little. "Do you always wear that much makeup or is _Cirque du Soleil_in town?" She pursed her lips, and he thought it wasn't his fault that she was doing a fairly good imitation of Tammy Faye Baker, his thoughts began to wander,_ how the hell did she get that much mascara on? Focus..your drifting... _he chided himself _maybe Cuddy was right in hoping, maybe if his sight was back, Cameron would walk._

Before he knew it, Foreman was standing over him, and he could see a light flash in his eyes, and he could no longer hold his nausea in check. His stomach was betraying him, and soon he felt himself being rolled over to his left side, and emptying the contents of his stomach, mostly liquid and then the ever painful dry heaves. He kept his eyes shut tight, and when he finally settled again, he heard Wilson's voice in the mix.

"Wilson, your voice is grating on me. Please lower it, the light has awoken the tiger living inside my head." He opened his eyes slightly, they had shut the lights off in the room and drawn the blinds. It was light enough for him to make out Wilson's smiling face. "Wilson, close your mouth, your teeth are too white...I don't feel like vomiting again."

"Funny. How much can you see?"

"Close, it's fuzzy, but not bad. Beyond a couple of feet, it's just blobs of shapes". He closed his eyes again.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Foreman was suddenly standing over him, and flashing a penlight in his eyes, and he could no longer hold his nausea in check. His stomach betrayed him, and he felt himself being rolled over to his left side, emptying the contents of his stomach, mostly liquid and then the ever painful dry heaves. He kept his eyes shut tight, and when he finally settled again, he heard Wilson's voice in the mix.

"Wilson, your voice is grating on me. Please lower it, there's a little man pounding in my head." He opened his eyes slightly after they had shut the lights off in the room and drawn the blinds. It was light enough for him to make out Wilson's smiling face. "Wilson, close your mouth, your teeth are too white...I don't feel like vomiting again."

"Funny. How much can you see?"

"Near sighted, it's fuzzy, but not bad. Beyond a couple of feet, it's just blobs of shapes". He closed his eyes again, rubbing with his eyes with his hand, he knew that it wouldn't help it was just a natural reaction.

"That's good news, it's only been 20 hours, looks like you are right on schedule." Foreman couldn't help feeling relieved. "I need to get another CT scan for comparison. I'm going to schedule you for one this morning." He paused, and looked over at Wilson before he continued. "Dr. Cameron was asking about you. Maybe this afternoon, we can get you up and over to her room for a visit."

House didn't say anything, just closed his eyes. Foreman took the hint, leaving House to Wilson. He knew that Wilson had a talent for manipulating House, and found himself smiling as he left the hospital room, he'd wager that House would be sitting next to Cameron before the day was over.

Wilson moved the chair closer to the bed so that House would be able to see him when he was ready to talk. The two friends sat in comfortable silence, listening to General Hospital. House's arm covered his face, and Wilson wasn't absolutely sure that he hadn't fallen asleep. He decided to wait it out, he knew that House blamed himself for Cameron's current condition.

_He loved the feeling of Allison against him as they rode through the cold night, the snow was light, and he was being careful, more careful than if he was by himself. His head was cold without the helmut, but he wanted her to wear it. For her to be safe, for her to be warm. They had become comfortable with each other. It was as if she read his thoughts, and held onto him tighter, hugging into his back. The smile that spread across his face at her touch quickly became alarmed as he felt the impact from beside him, her hands losing their grip around him. One hand reached fleetingly for hers, he caught only her fingertips, while his other hand was trying to control the bike, he felt himself airborne the bike left behind, crisp cold air, snowflakes falling in the beam of the headlight, peaceful somehow, and then darkness…and oh so much pain…he blinked a couple of times and could see another shape lying askew on the snow…Allison! He was yelling, trying to get up..struggling to get closer to her, to help her. He could see the red stain spreading around her in the snow….Allison! Things went blurry as he tried to stay conscious…._

He woke with a start, his breathing ragged. Opening his eyes, he panicked, and blinked, his left hand instinctively rubbed against his eyes. A strong hand was on his shoulder, keeping him from moving. "House, you're in the hospital. Allison is fine. Remember?" He looked up and saw Wilson's face. It was blurry, but he could make it out. He tried to take control of his breathing, before he started to truly hyperventilate.

"Ok." It was barely a whisper. Sweat covered his body, a cup was moved to his lips, and he drank the cool liquid. It gave him time to compose himself, he was still shaking off the remnants of the dream. He closed his eyes tight, but couldn't keep them from popping up in his head.

"House…I think that you should go and see Cameron." Wilson waited for the arguing, but it didn't come. Surprisingly, House just nodded.

"I want to change into scrubs before we go…I don't want to flash my jewels at any of the nurses," he paused for a second and couldn't look Wilson in the eye, "and I want the urethral catheter out to...I...don't want.-" Wilson stopped him, he understood. House didn't want to be pushed through the hospital in a wheelchair with a bag of urine.

"Ok, I'll send a nurse in to do that and I'll be right back with the scrubs…preference color?"

"NOT PINK!" House paused knowing Wilson, "not PURPLE either!" House couldn't see it but Wilson was smiling just outside the door.

He returned a short while later, scrubs in hand...blue. Wilson unhooked the monitors, causing a already harried nurse to rush into the room, expecting to order a crash cart. Only to be met by a sheepish looking Dr. Wilson, once he was properly chastised by the floor nurse, which seemed to amuse House immensely, did he start to get House situated. He helped House into the scrubs, which with the broken arm, limited sight, bum leg and vertigo, was no easy feat, he got him situated in a wheelchair. At first, House had balked at the idea of having to use the chair, but Wilson finally won out. He moved the IV bag onto the pole attached to the wheelchair.

"At least help me put my shoes on." Wilson rolled his eyes, but in the name of peace he relented and put the shoes on. Knowing House, he knew that somehow he was going to regret it.

"How about being a good boy and fetching my cane."

"How about…no. You are not supposed to be up and walking around." House made a face and Wilson stopped him with his hand. "I don't even have one to give you, your's is a splinter out in a field." Wilson regretted saying it as soon as the words slipped past his lips. House paled a little at the reference to the accident, but conceded.

"Sorry –", House waved it away.

"Come on Wilson, let's get this show on the road." House covered closed his eyes as they left the dimmed room into the bright hallway.

Wilson and a wheelchair bound House entered Cameron's room. He couldn't see her clearly when they first entered the room. The lights dimmed so that he could take he wouldn't have to squint, he wanted to look normal, he didn't want to see that sympathetic pity look in her eyes, or that's what he told himself. He knew that he just didn't want her to worry. He wanted her to focus on herself and she wouldn't be able to do that if she was overly concerned about him. As Wilson maneuvered him closer to her bed, she went from a large blurry shape to a sleeping Cameron. His chair came to a stop next to the bed. She looked so peaceful, so beautiful, he could almost imagine that she was back in their bed. His left hand reached up and brushed a few errant strands of hair from her face, his fingertips gently tracing from her cheekbone to her chin.

"Call me if you need me ok?" He had forgotten that Wilson was even there, he just nodded his head, not trusting his voice. Since when had he become so emotional? Smirking to himself, he knew the answer, the day that he let Allison in. God, he hoped that it didn't become his undoing. He could only think of what would become of them if she didn't recover. He knew that she was strong enough, his hand left her face and went to hold her hand, his thumb rubbing circles on the back of her hand. He leaned over and rested his forehead on his arm, still holding her hand. He closed his eyes as the exhaustion overtook him. He slept a dreamless sleep for the first time since the accident.

Cameron slowly woke, she smiled as House came into focus next to her. He was softly snoring, she watched him sleep, his mouth slightly open, his face relaxed and open. He was holding her hand, his head resting on his arm and his other arm in a cast. She wondered how long he had been sitting there. She could see the bruises on the side of his face, and remembered that he hadn't been wearing his helmet when they crashed, she had. How lucky were they that he was sitting next to her? That they both survived? Cameron instinctively knew that House would see the glass as half empty instead of half full, that was just his nature. She wished that she had the freedom to move, to take him in her arms, hold him and convince him that it was going to be alright. But she knew that even that would not be enough. She held his hand in hers, watching him sleep.

He sat up in confusion, then remembered that he was supposed to be visiting Cameron...Allison. He looked towards her, the room had grown dark, and he couldn't tell if she was sleeping or not, until she spoke. "Hey..." He could hear the smile in her voice, and he smirked in response. "Hey back"

They sat in silence for a couple of minutes. "Kind of a mess we're in here huh?"

"Well, I've got you right where I want you, on your back and immobilized." He wiggled his eyebrows at her, as she rolled hers at his comment. She squeezed his hands in thanks, thanks for the normality that he was trying to re-establish.

She nodded toward the table that was filled with all the cards and gifts from her friends. "No comment on that huge stuffed pink bunny?" House looked confused for a moment and then tried to look in the direction that she was looking, he only nodded. Cameron's eyebrows were knitted together when he looked back toward her.

"What?" He tried to keep his voice normal, a little bit snarky.

"Nothing...it's just that I can't believe that you don't have any smartass comments about my booty over there." He shrugged. They fell into silence again. House cleared his throat.

"Allison..." He couldn't continue, he had never been good with emotions.

"Greg, it wasn't your fault. It was my idea to ride the bike remember? I'm the one that insisted on it. We didn't cause the accident..." Her hand cupped his jaw, her thumb rubbing his bottom lip, "It was an accident...that's all." House covered her hand with his, and pulling her hand to his mouth so that he could gently kiss her palm.

The room was suddenly filled with blinding light.

When the light came on, he covered his eyes, and moaned in pain. "House...", he rocked a minute, "Greg what is it?"

The light was immediately caused excrutiating pain, and he immediately felt nauseous. "Turn the fucking lights off, dim them...anything!" He kept his eyes shut tight, his hand over them for added protection.

"What's going on?" Cuddy's voice appears out of nowhere.

"DIM THE DAMN LIGHTS!" He's started to rock in his chair, he is trying to stop the inevitable, and felt himself lose control.

In this distance he can faintly hear Allison call his name, Cuddy saying something...and the pinpricks of lights appeared behind his eyelids.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"I need some help in here!" Cuddy yelled. Two nurses ran in, followed by Wilson. He helped Cuddy lower House's seizing body to the floor. Cuddy cushioned his head to keep him from causing more head injury. "Ativan 2mg". His body started to calm, his breathing still labored. His eyes fluttered open, he seemed a little disoriented, but gained his bearings quickly.

"Dammit that hurts." It was barely a whisper, "At least I didn't vomit...again."

"Who the hell authorized _my _patient getting out of bed, let alone leave his room...WILSON?" Her voice raised higher at each word and she narrowed her eyes at Wilson, who had the decency to at least look sheepish as he shrugged.

"He wanted to see Cameron and - " he stopped with one look from Cuddy.

"What's going on??" Both Cuddy and Wilson looked up to a very pale Cameron, they had nearly forgotten that she was in the room.

"He's still suffering from a pretty serious concussion, and recovering from Cortical blindness..." Cuddy looked down at House, his head still in her lap, "You IDIOT! are you trying to set back your recovery?"

House rubbed his face and looked towards Cameron's bed, he could make out the shapes but it was too far to see any detail. "No, I just wanted to come and check on Cameron and everything would have been fine if you hadn't come in and turned the lights on..." He managed to look indignant as if this all really had been Cuddy's fault.

"WHAT??! Are you serious? If I had been ASKED I would have brought you down here myself, ensured that you could do it safely, but no you and Sundance here decided that you both knew better. I swear, I feel like a den mother!" She sighed and closed her eyes, calming herself. When she opened them, she nodded toward Wilson, "Help me get him back into the chair. I need to check his arm, I'm hoping that it doesn't have to be reset. He hit it pretty hard on the floor." Wilson was smart enough to just keep his mouth shut and at least look a little ashamed, and by the expression on Cuddy's face, she was bound to snap at any moment.

"Crabby...That time of month - " Wilson winced, he could almost hear the SNAP.

"Shut.Up.House." She said through clenched teeth.

Cameron smiled, this...this_ normality _probably did the most for her spirits. House was being is normal irritating self, Cuddy was being the den mother, and Wilson was being...well, the sidekick, the jiminy cricket who never managed to keep House reined in, instead he was always a part of some hair brained scheme.

Cameron erupted with laughter. It felt good, this was the absolute best medicine. Everyone looked over at her, at first as if she had just gone off the deep in, but then reluctantly they all smiled too. Cuddy smirked at her, "Do you want House to stay for a little while? He doesn't seem the worse for wear..." Cameron nodded, a small smile on her lips, as Cuddy continued, "As soon as he looks like he is getting tired, or more likely driving you crazy," House who was sitting facing away from Cuddy was mimicking her, Cameron could barely control her giggles at his antics, "I expect you to call the nurses and have him carted back to his own room." Cameron nodded her assent, afraid if she spoke that her laughter would burst out oncontrollably. Cuddy's features softened a little, she knew that this was probably the best thing for both of their recoveries.

"YOU." Cuddy pointed at House, "STAY.IN.THE.WHEELCHAIR.UNDERSTAND?" She shook her head and muttered, "_I'm so tempted to put you in medically induced coma_."

House looked as innocent as possible, "Of course, I wouldn't want to impede my recovery" he scoffed. Cuddy just rolled her eyes as she pointed to Wilson.

"AND.YOU." Wilson's eyes went wide "Follow me." With that she left the room, leaving a very sheepish Wilson, who at least had the decency to look ashamed.

"Well, you'd better run off to the principal's office...she probably'll have the paddle all warmed up for you", Wilson sighed, thought about saying something, but just rolled his eyes, shook his head and reluctantly followed Cuddy.

"Your incorrigible, you know that?" House just smirked at her comment, as he manuevered his chair closer to her.

"Of course...that's one of my most enduring qualities." Cameron laughed, truly laughed, ending in a contented smile. This was just what she needed to start her own healing process. She sobered for a second, her hand coming to rest on his scruff, her thumb tracing his cheek.

"Why didn't you tell me about your eyes? How far can you see?"

His eyes focused on her, "I can see you, it's a just a little blurry". He stopped and looked at the floor, "better than yesterday."

They sat in silence for a few minutes, House had taken Cameron's hand in his own. Her spinal injury hung between them. He didn't want to broach the subject first. He hadn't had a chance to approach Foreman about any of his theories on her diagnosis.

"Foreman seems to think that the swelling on the spinal cord is causing the paralysis." He put his hand over the one that she still had on his face. She had paused and closed her eyes, smiling wanly, "He has contacted a top neurological surgeon - once the swelling goes down - they're going back in. Until then -"she looks down, not wanting to look into his concerned gaze, "I'm stuck here - boring". She rolls her eyes, and smirks. He squeezes her hand, and nods. He's not sure that he can speak with the lump that has formed in his throat. She turns her focus back toward the TV, General Hospital has now come on, and she finally looks toward House, smiling at his squinting toward the TV.

"Want me to tell you what everyone is wearing?" House takes her hand away from his face and brings his other hand to rest with hers as well, smiling.

She spends the next hour relating to House all of the latest of the fashions and medical procedural mistakes. He had been silent for the last five minutes of the show and while the credits were rolling, she looked to see that he had dozed off. His head lolled back, she reached for the nurse call button. As the nurse entered the room, Cameron held a finger to her lips, and the nurse nodded understanding.

"Please call Dr. Wilson to take him back to his room." She whispered and the nurse nodded, relieved that she wouldn't have to deal with getting Dr. House back to his room alone... especially if he woke up on the way. It was only a few moments before Wilson arrived to take House back to his room.

"I'll see you later Allison. You know we have to put the catheter back in", Wilson smiled devilishly, "He's going to be so pissed." Allison couldn't help but laugh at that.

Allison Cameron sat looking out of the window. The sky was overcast today, much like her mood. She was so tired of lying on her back, tired of this one view, looking up into the sky through the window everyday, waiting for a miracle. Any definitive diagnosis would be helpful, she couldn't stand the waiting. The swelling had receded but not enough for any substantial change. She had slight feeling in her lower extremities but it was fleeting, but she didn't want to tell anyone yet.

MDMDMDMDMD

_Hearing the door open, he shut his eyes and tried to control his breathing. Please let me be invisible, please let me be invisible. He breathed slow and regular, relaxing his body to imitate a deep sleep, still his eyelids could detect the shadow that crossed across him, long and foreboding from the hallway. He could hear the heavy breathing, the large hand jiggling the doorknob. A chill ran down his spine as he heard the first step into the room, and then he knew that his father was leaning over the bed. His bladder gave way to his fear and he felt the warmth spill out onto the front of his pajamas, as a hand grabbed him and pulled him up. The boy's eyes popped open, frightened and ashamed, and he braced himself. _

"_My God boy…you've wet yourself, do you not have ANY self control?" His father's face was angry and only inches from his own. The boy didn't say anything, he knew that no matter what answer he gave his father, it wouldn't be right one and would only in the end make things worse. His father threw him to the floor. "Clean that up, change the sheets, and then come downstairs. Do you understand?" The boy looked at him with wide blue eyes and nodded is assent. As his father left the room, he turned. "Come down to the den when you are done….leave those pajamas on.." The boy hurried to do as his father asked, he changed the sheets and threw the soiled ones down the laundry shoot. He passed his parents room, the door shut, he could hear his mother sobbing softly. He made his way down the stairs and entered his father's study. The Colonel stood waiting for his son._

"_Gregory, I found this hidden on my bookshelf." The boy froze. He had broken the letter opener by accident trying to jimmy his way into the loose board in the floor. His father now held the two pieces in his hands. He threw them on he desk. "Come here" Greg knew not to argue and he slowly moved closer, his father reached high on top of the shelf bringing down the paddle, strategically placed holes had been drilled through it. Without being told, the boy lowered his pajama pants and shorts and bent over his father's knee. "Count out loud" He could hear the air passing through he paddle, but was still shocked when it made content as he squeaked out a "one". The next blow was harder, and hit him on his right leg, he managed not yell out but did get a strained "two" out. Greg knew that if he failed to count so that his father could hear it, the blow would be repeated. Seven was the magic number, one for each year of his life. He wanted to be good, so that he never had to call these out to 8. His father swung again, and the paddle again hit his leg, it was agonizing, he couldn't call out the number before his father repeated the same swing again. The pain was unbearable, he fell on his side, writhing in agony, the enraged face of his father the last thing that he saw, the paddle swinging up in an arc. He could hear a voice calling to him, but it sounded so far away…._

"House!Greg!" He struggled against the arms that were trying to hold him down, his eyes opened in a panic. Wilson could see the wide-eyed panic in his friend's eyes, he was still stuck in whatever nightmare his pain and unconscious mind had sent him to. He could see the nurse out of the corner of his eye preparing the sedative. He scowled at her, if she had been doing her job in the first place, he wouldn't be here now, restraining his friend.

"HOUSE! Listen to me…", leaning in to look directly into those vacant blue eyes, that now seemed to focus on him, "You are having a dream, you are in the hospital, remember the accident…"

"Wilson?" He arched as a spasm hit is leg, it brought back pieces of the dream, but that's all it was, a dream. "leg….spasm" he whispered through gritted teeth. Wilson nodded.

"Your morphine pump was empty, probably about three hours. It's been filled now, so you should start feeling better."

"That explains a lot…I had a dream… my leg was hurt….wet the bed", House's eyes were heavy, he could feel the morphine blanket him with comfort, and hopefully it would drag him into a dreamless sleep.

Wilson shook his head in confusion. "House you have a catheter, remember?"

Just as House was about to go under he looked toward the shadow at his hospital door, and what he saw made him hitch a breath. His father smiling at him, holding his mother's hand. Wilson followed his gaze, and smiled.

"Your parents arrived a short while ago. You gave them quite a scare." Everything around House faded into darkness as he surrendered himself to unconsciousness.

Wilson looked down at his friends face, he couldn't place the look that he had given his parents before he went under. He turned to look at House's parents, his father had a familiar scowl on his face, his mother looked worried and shaken. Wilson put on his best bedside manner, walking over toward the Colonel and Mrs. House. They had met on several occasions, and unfortunately, the majority of those had been spent in a hospital room with their son lying on the bed. First the infarction, then the shooting, and now, well now this. He knew that House and his father didn't get along, but couldn't ever get the full story out of him.

"What's wrong with him? DT's?" His father's voice was gruff, disapproving. Blythe House squeezed her husbands arm.

"John." Wilson couldn't tell by the timber of her voice if it was a pleading or a warning to her husband. Either way it had the same result, he didn't say more. His expression, though, remained the same, a brow furrowed in disapproval.

"He has been inert in bed for the past few days which seems to effect his leg adversely causing more frequent and intense muscle spasms in his leg. Tomorrow, he will start some physical therapy to help restore any mobility that he may have lost over the last week." He paused, "He's really alright, he'll have to depend on the wheelchair until his arm heals. His cortical blindness," a look of horror crossed both parents faces, "but it has almost fully corrected itself. His concussion had caused some pretty severe seizures, but those have stopped and his CT scans show that no damage was caused by those. There is still a little swelling, but that should correct itself in the next few days." Colonel House was shaking his head.

"He never knows how lucky he is, he has to push every boundary. His carelessness caused that young girl her ability to walk. He had no business with that motorcycle." Wilson barely heard him, but was too shocked to say anything. "As always, my son cannot see or care beyond himself." Before Wilson could respond, the Colonel had pulled himself away from his wife and left the room. Blythe House looked at Wilson, and smiled.

"My husband is just worried." She didn't say more but went and stood next to the bed, looking over the sleeping son.

MDMDMDMDMDMD

Colonel John House often said that when he first saw his son, he knew that he was going to be trouble. Nothing he did seemed to affect the boy at all, and now as a grown man, he could see his failure staring him in the face. He wanted to apologize to the girl that was most likely permanently injured by his son's carelessness.

Cameron was sitting in her room, trying to focus on watching TV, but she just found that too boring. Normally House would be visiting her room now, and she was a little worried that he wasn't. For the past week, he appeared in her room, wheeled in by Wilson, carrying a tray of lunch for both of them from the cafeteria, or better, if he could talk Wilson into it, it was good greasy contraband fast food. It was now eleven thirty and still no House. Well, maybe he was being discharged, he had been driving his nurses crazy, and she knew that Cuddy's patience with all of his shenanagan's was probably wearing thin by this time. She turned her head when she heard the door slide open, and was shocked to see the elder House, she recovered and smiled at him. His face was stern as he stepped into her room.

"Mr House..", her smile faltered, what if something happened to Greg. Surely, it would be Wilson standing here, "Did something happen to Greg?"

A look on confusion passed over his face. "You work for my son." It was a statement, plain and simple, Cameron nodded. "He can't just ruin his own life, he has to drag others down with him."

She shook her head, not sure what to say. She certainly didn't blame Greg for this, it was an accident pure and simple, out of their control. Cameron could feel the anger building, she certainly hoped that he hadn't said anything like this to Greg. He was already struggling with the guilt of it all, this would set them back.

"Actually, Mr…"

"Colonel…it's Colonel House."

"Fine. Actually, **Colonel** House, it was my idea to take the bike that night, not Greg's. I insisted that night when the car ran us off the road. Greg feels enough guilt over something that he couldn't control without having anyone throw it in his face."

"You're more than a co-worker." Again another statement from him. Cameron guessed that he didn't ask a lot of questions, that he spent most of his time making judgments.

"Yes."

"And now? Two cripples…how will he be able to take care of you? Do you really think that this has a future?"

"Why are you doing this?"

"My son pushes everything and everyone around him until it's ruined, broken. He punishes me, his mother, his co-workers…. What makes you think that you are any different? Look at you lying in that bed, broken… Do you think a life with him will be marriage with a white picket fence? Children? I doubt that would be possible for either of you, especially now. And if you did, how would you care for them?"

Cameron didn't know what to say. "Please leave." He just stood there.

"He's no good you know – "

"GET OUT!" Cameron's monitors beeped erratically and a nurse appeared in the room. She went to her patient, blocking Cameron's view of the "Colonel".

"Sir, you have to leave, you are upsetting my patient." With that said, the nurse turned and led him out of the room, shutting the door and pulling the blinds. He had been dismissed.

"Dr. Cameron, you have to try to relax." Cameron closed her eyes, _No wonder Greg didn't let anyone in. _ She forced herself to take a deep breath, let her anger dissipate before she spoke.

"I need you to get Dr. Wilson for me, please." The nurse nodded and left without another word. Somehow, she knew that Greg's absence was due in some part to his father, what if he had voiced his concerns to Greg…she had to calm herself, and took deep breaths waiting for Wilson.

Wilson was still monitoring House's vitals when Cuddy arrived. She exchanged pleasantries with Blythe and then looked at her patient's chart.

"His morphine pump was empty, during which he had a leg spasm. Looks like everything else is alright. Caused a couple of tense moments, but he's out now. When were you thinking of discharging him? I'll need to fill a vicodin prescription." He pulled his pager up as it went off.

"Looks like Cameron is wondering where House is."

"Go ahead, Wilson. He's out for a couple of hours. I'll let you and Cameron know when he wakes up. I'm sure that he'll want to go and see her. I was thinking of discharging him tomorrow, but I'll wait and see how today goes." Wilson nodded to her and headed over to Cameron's room.

Entering Cameron's room, he could see that something was wrong. "Where's Greg, is there something wrong?"

He smiled reassuringly, "He's fine. The nurses let his morphine pump run dry this morning and he had a nightmare in conjunction with a leg spasm. Seems to be resting comfortably now. Everything looks fine, Cuddy is thinking of maybe releasing him sometime tomorrow, depending on how today goes."

"Did his father talk to him before that happened?" He looked confused, and shook his head.

"He was sleeping when his parents arrived, he only saw them a moment when he started to wake up, and then I dosed him pretty heavily with morphine. How did you know – "

"His father was here, he came and saw me. Told me how screwed up Greg was, how we couldn't make it as two cripples…. he believes that this is all Greg's fault. That he isn't any good." Cameron pleaded with him, "Make some excuse to not let him be near Greg. He is already struggling with the thought that this accident was somehow his fault. I don't need that bitter old man undoing all I've done to break down those walls" She thought for a moment. "Don't release him tomorrow, you can convince him to stay, because I need his support. He could have a bed in this room, at least until I know that his parent's are on a plane."

"Cameron, do you really think that it's that bad?"

She looked at him incredulously. "Yes, Wilson, I do. I had to almost throw him out, I don't think that he would have left if the nurse hadn't come in."

Wilson's hand went behind his neck, and he thought about it for a second. His father had automatically assumed that House was in detox and he also seemed to be unsympathetic to his plight. He didn't want to endanger any progress that House had made toward this relationship, and he had to agree with Cameron, no matter how many times they all told him that it was an accident, he still blamed himself. He didn't need anyone validated that thought. Cameron was right in thinking that it would only serve to build that fortress back up again, and who knew when, if ever, it would ever crack again.

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Wilson headed back to House's room. He thought about what Cameron had told him and decided to pull Cuddy aside and get her opinion. Truth be told, no matter what, a bored House at home wouldn't be as bad as him being at the hospital with Cameron. It would certainly help her recovery. Of course, having House at the hospital might have the nurses on the floor in an uproar. He was going to be confined to a wheelchair for the next few weeks because of his broken right arm, unless he started using his left hand with his cane and Wilson doubted that. His musings had found him in front of House's room, he could see Cuddy inside talking softly to Blythe House, she was nodding, and stealing glances at her son, who was now resting comfortably. Colonel House was nowhere to be found, Wilson looked down the hallway, thinking that the man was probably sitting on a bench, and concluded that he must have gone to the cafeteria. Cuddy put her hand on Blythe's arm to reassure her when she turned to see Wilson outside the door.

He moved to slide the door open, nodding toward Blythe and smiling, "Dr. Cuddy, can I see you for a moment?"

Her brow furrowed, wondering what Wilson couldn't say in front of Mrs. House, "Why don't you go down and have something to eat in the cafeteria, he'll be out for a couple of hours at least."

"I'll wait here for John and then we can both go down together." She moved to sit in the chair next to House's bed, but not before leaning over to place a kiss on his forehead, her hand brushing his cheek.

Wilson watched the scene, and then turned to an expectant Cuddy. "House's dad went to see Cameron."

"What? Why?"

"Apparently, he went to tell her that House was basically a lost cause, trouble and that nothing between them could ever amount to anything." Cuddy shook her head in disbelief.

"How's Cameron?"

"Fuming. She kicked him out", Wilson couldn't help but smirk at the image. "She's worried that if he's around when House regains consciousness, that he'll start on him. She said that he already blames himself for the accident. He doesn't need his dad berating him over it. She doesn't want him discharged if his parent's are still here. I tend to agree with her, if he leaves now, he'll need to have a little help since his arm is broken and I can't see his mom leaving him. Cameron suggested that his bed be moved into her room. That would give him a purpose, to help in Cameron's recovery."

Cuddy seemed to be considering what he was saying and was about comment when she saw Colonel House walking towards them. His face in a scowl, "Is he awake yet?"

Dr. Cuddy moved to block him from going into the room, she didn't know why she had felt the need to do that, but her instinct screamed for her to stop him. Blythe had looked up from her son's bed when she heard her husband's voice and she went to the door.

"He's still out John. Dr. Cuddy suggested that we head down to the cafeteria, since he probably will be out for another couple of hours." He just nodded his head, but didn't say anything. Instead he took his wife's hand and they headed toward the elevators. Wilson and Cuddy exchanged confused looks.

"What was that all about?" Wilson just shrugged at the question, as he followed the couple's progress toward the elevator. They seemed to be having a quiet disagreement, he could see Blythe's shoulders tense as they spoke in hushed tones. The Colonel's hand tightened on her arm and Wilson could see his temple throbbing as he leaned in to say something to her. Blythe finally nodded as they entered the elevator, he had released his grip on her arm and put his hand in the small of her back. They once again looked like a loving couple. Wilson wondered at what he had just seen.

Wilson turned his attention back to Cuddy catching the concerned look on her face, they both turned to look at the peacefully sleeping House.

"I don't think that he's ready for discharge, the leg spasm that he had today proves that. For right now, I'd like for him to stay in this room. We can move him if we need to, you know House, he has a sixth sense. I hope that his parents leave sooner than later. I don't need my patient's recovery impeded any more than it already has…" Giving Wilson a significant look, to which he only cleared his throat.

"I think I'll sit up here with him until he comes around. I don't have any appointments scheduled for this afternoon. I can probably get some charting done." Cuddy nodded, she knew that Wilson was concerned, and that his presence would provide a buffer for the House family.

"Call me when he wakes." She smiled at him and headed toward Cameron's room.

Cameron had spent her day like any other – bored out of her mind. There just weren't that many interesting things to do while lying on your back with limited movement. Her co-workers had rigged her laptop above her and had hooked up an extra mouse putting it down next to her left hand. She had spent the afternoon surfing the internet, reading some medical journals, shopping, and now, well, she was thoroughly bored. She wanted to see House's familiar face, hear his snide comments, laugh as he teased the nurses, or embarrassed Cuddy or more often Wilson. Her heart skipped a little when she heard the door to her room sliding open and a bright smile lit her face, it faltered, however when she saw Cuddy standing there. She tried to recover, but Cuddy smiled knowingly.

"I'm sorry, it's just me."

"Wilson said that House was alright, but I haven't seen him today. I'm starting to think that he didn't fill me in on everthing."

Cuddy moved closer to the bed, and pulled one of the chairs up. Cameron hardly realized that she was holding her breath, until the other woman, patted her hand, "Breathe Cameron. Wilson wasn't holding anything back, House is fine. He did have a muscle spasm in his leg this morning, but nothing out of the ordinary. It took a little more out of him than normal only because he is still recovering from his other injuries. I had planned on discharging him tomorrow, like Wilson told you." Cameron didn't say anything, she just nodded her head and waiting for Cuddy to continue. "He also told me about your run-in with House Senior earlier, and what you would like to do. I'm going to hold House, under the nursing staff protest, I'm sure, until his parents have gone home." Cameron smiled, and was about to speak when Cuddy held up her hand, "However, I think that if I moved House into here, he would suspect something was up and demand to be released. I thought that the leg issue would give me another couple of viable days, and I am going to ask him to consult on your case at the same time. That way it will give him an excuse to be in here, and keep him busy at the same time."

"You are a sneaky genius Dr. Cuddy."

Cuddy smiled, "Of course, how else could have I have dealt with House for all of these years?" She got up to leave. "Anything that I can get you?"

"House?"

"I'll see what I can do."

Wilson sat quietly talking to Blythe, small talk really. She was sitting next to her son, ever so often her hand would nervously touch his, and then return to her lap. His father sat in the corner, his arms crossed, a stern expression as he stared at his son, almost as if he was daring for him to wake up. Wilson watched the monitors closely, he could tell by the mildly accelerated heart rate that House was coming out of his drug induced slumber, but didn't say anything. He wondered how long it had been that way, and if House had really been awake for a while now. House wasn't comfortable seeing his parents under the best of circumstances, and if his friend wanted to play opossum, then so be it.

"Dr. Wilson, is everything alright? I'm starting to get worried that he hasn't come around yet." Blythe looked a little panicked, her worry clearly evident for her son.

He leaned over and patted her arm, "He's fine. It's been a rough few days, and he hadn't been resting well. The sedatives and pain medication are giving him that chance. I'm predicting that he is probably going to sleep through the night." She nodded at this, but her husband only gave a brief grunt, which Wilson didn't even want to attempt to interpret. Clearly his wife knew how because before he knew it, she had gathered her jacket that had been lying over the back of the chair, kissed her son's forehead and was standing by her husband, a hand on his shoulder. "John, let's go get dinner and get settled at the hotel. We'll come back tomorrow." He got up and headed for the door, Blythe turned before they left, "You will let us know if there is any change, won't you Dr. Wilson?"

"Yes, of course." With that, they proceeded toward the elevators. He waited until elevator doors closed and he was sure they were gone, before turning toward House. "Ok, they're gone Sleeping Beauty. You can open your eyes."

House opened one eye and then the other, not trusting that Wilson was telling the truth. But as he looked around, he didn't see his parents. "This isn't a trap is it? They aren't standing right outside the door waiting to come back in are they?"

Wilson rolled his eyes, "No…I didn't say anything to you until I saw the elevator doors close. How long have you been awake faker?"

"Feels like forever. I just couldn't handle my parents today, especially my father. I couldn't see him but I'm sure that he was just sitting staring at me, disapprovingly." Wilson just shrugged, and changed the subject immediately. He didn't want to talk about House's father, he was afraid that he might let something slip about Cameron, and he didn't want an enraged House on his hands.

"How are you feeling?"

"Better, really must have needed that sleep. I'm also starving." Wilson laughed at that.

"I can run down to the cafeteria for you, or do you feel like getting up?"

"I'd like to have dinner with Cameron. Think you could make that happen?" He gave his most charming smile, and added a whiny, "PLEEAASE?"

Smiling, Wilson could only shake his head and laugh as he nodded. "I need to page Cuddy." At that, House made a sour face, which only made Wilson laugh harder.

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

It has been twenty minutes before Cuddy arrived in House's room, and by that time, he was steaming. No amount of cajoling, begging, or threats could get Wilson to get him out of the bed. Wilson was waiting for Cuddy's ok before taking House out of his bed. He wasn't going to temp fate twice with the wrath of the Hospital Administrator. He had to stop House twice from taking out his own catheter.

Cuddy could feel the tension in the room as she entered. It was also blatantly obvious, House sitting on his bed, a scowl on his face, and Wilson sitting in the chair in the corner with a long suffering look on his face. She couldn't keep her eyes from rolling as she stepped into the room and grabbed House's chart.

"Took you long enough." House grumbled, "Boy Wonder over there won't let me out of here until you sign off…wuss," the last comment he directed to Wilson. Wilson pointed his finger at House and was getting ready to respond in kind, when Cuddy held up a hand to stop him.

"Shut up House. Let me do a quick examination and then we'll talk about the rules ok?" House just scowled further, but didn't say anything. Cuddy took her time, listening to his chest, checking his pupils, examining his leg, and last making sure that his fingers were pink with circulation on his broken arm. She seemed satisfied.

"Well? Can I go now _MOTHER_?" This statement produced a rather evil look on Cuddy's face.

"Wilson, have you called his parents yet? I'm sure that they are anxious to see him." At this, she smiled sweetly.

"Nuh-huh, you wouldn't."

"Don't push me House."

"Ok, ok. What about – ", he stopped and gestured toward his catheter bag, "can you send a nurse in to get this out, or better yet, I can just take it out myself."

"Nothing doing. That stays in," Again she held up her and to ward off any arguments. "I want that in through tomorrow in case the episode that you had this morning repeats itself and you have to be sedated."

"What do you mean _through_ tomorrow?"

"I'm keeping you at least another day for observation, and tomorrow for a final CT scan." She could see the color rising in his face, but she headed that off, "Actually, I was thinking that you being around would probably benefit Cameron more than you. Unless you disagree with that?" She continued while he considered her reasoning, "And you know that you are going to need help at home with a broken arm and bum leg," again he opened his mouth to dispute her, and she shook her head, "and I'm sure that your parent's would be more than willing to stay over until you could handle things by yourself."

House snapped his mouth shut, and sneered at Wilson's smug look. "Wipe that stupid smile off of your face and help me into a wheelchair. I haven't had anything to eat since yesterday and it's making me cranky."

"Seriously, what's your excuse for the rest of the time?"

"Shut It." Wilson just rolled his eyes, but refrained from making any more comments.

Cuddy had watched the whole exchange, and was satisfied that her orders were going to be carried out, "I'll check back in later House. Wilson, I'll hold you responsible." With that she left the room, smirking outside knowing that House was going to give Wilson a run for his money. She felt a little bit guilty, but knew that Wilson was just going to dump House in Cameron's care after the cafeteria run. She also hoped that his parents wouldn't show back up, but she wouldn't put it past them. How could she blame his mother, she was probably worried sick about her son, but she wasn't so sure how his father felt.

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Wilson was exhausted. He had helped House struggle into a pair of scrubs, after taping the catheter bag to his leg, and then got him into the wheelchair. When they got down to the cafeteria, House was able to move his own tray along while ordering Wilson what to load the tray with, and the crowning moment on that trip had been getting down to the cashier. House just pointed at Wilson, and shrugged.

"Does it look like a carry a wallet in these pants?"

"Sure…why would I think that you would pay for your own food?"

"Just be glad that Cameron is still on her special diet or you'd be buying two meals instead of just one."

Wilson stared at the tray in House's lap, "All that is just for you?!"

House gave him a cheesy grin, "Of course, growing boy and all." Wilson rolled his eyes and gave up, pushing House out of the cafeteria and toward the elevators. The ride up was unusually quiet, not that Wilson was complaining. Standing behind the wheelchair, Wilson glanced down at House and could see his left hand clutching the tray of food, the tray shook a little.

"House?"

"Don't suppose that you have any Vicodin, do ya Jimmy?" Wilson could hear the strain in his voice even though he was trying to sound casual about it. He moved to look over at House, his face had paled somewhat and a light sheen of sweat had appeared across his brow.

"Jesus, why didn't you say something earlier?"

"I was probably still coasting on the morphine, I don't know. What does it matter now? My pills are in my room, right?" He looked up to Wilson for confirmation of this fact, and Wilson nodded.

"I'll take you to Cameron's room and then – "

"NO" House took a deep breath, "No, let's go to my room first, let me take two and get this under control. She'll just worry." He didn't say anything else, instead he focused on trying to breath through the cramping of his leg, he couldn't rub it with his left hand, even if he wasn't holding the tray stacked high with food. He found himself momentarily distracted by the fact that he didn't want to dump the tray and focused on keeping it steady. When the next contraction came, Wilson had just pushed him into his room and had the presence of mind to grab the tray, and then grabbed the vial of pills out of the drawer next to House's bed. When he turned back around, House was rocking back and forth in the chair, his left hand rubbing as best as it could, biting his lip so hard that Wilson thought for sure that he was going to draw blood.

Wilson opened the bottle and handed House two pills, which he immediately dry swallowed.

"Do you want me to grab some heat for your leg? I can get the thinner pads, no one would know that they were even there, but I think that it would help in stopping anymore cramping." House didn't say anything, his eyes were closed, he only nodded.

"I'll be right back."

House could feel the pills starting to do their job. He knew that because of his lack of activity, his leg would be stiff and he would probably have these episodes more frequently until he was able to move more. His eyes were still closed, head bowed when he heard the door slide open.

"It's almost gone…I don't think I'll - "

"So you're awake." House's eyes popped open and looked to see his father in the doorway. "Funny, no one called your mother and I. Do you realize how worried she is about your right now?"

House just shook his head, he didn't know what to say. He was too shocked to say anything, suddenly he was ten again. It was at that moment that the door opened up again.

Wilson stopped dead in his tracks, he looked past the Colonel and at House who was facing him. His face was pale, and Wilson hoped that he hadn't gotten there too late to keep anything damaging from happening. At that thought, the man turned to look at Wilson, his eyes narrowing.

"Well, if it isn't Dr. Wilson. Did you or Dr. Cuddy ever plan on calling my wife and I to inform us that our son had regained consciousness?"

Wilson put on his most charming smile. "He hasn't been up that long, as you can see, I'm trying to help him get his pain under control. The leg has been giving him trouble since he has been stuck in bed, I think that we discussed that earlier. I had planned on calling you as I helped him get comfortable."

The Colonel nodded toward the loaded tray that now set on the bed. "After a quick run to the cafeteria?" He turned toward his son, "I'll let your mother know that you are up and seem to be doing fine. We'll be back tomorrow to visit." He turned and walked out of the room. Wilson watched him go and then turned his attention back to House, who had remained silent throughout the entire exchange.

"I've got two chemical heating pads, thin ones. No one will even know that they are there." House just nodded, not meeting Wilson's eyes. "I've got to get you up for a second to get these attached under the scrubs."

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It took about 15 minutes to get everything resituated, the tray once again across House's lap, and they were out the door to Cameron's room. Wilson knew that his friend would talk when he was ready and not before.

"I don't want that mentioned to Cameron."

"Sure, I won't say anything." As they came up to the room, they could both see Cameron staring up at the TV with disinterest. Wilson moved ahead and knocked on the glass before he slid it open and stuck his head in.

"Are you up for a visitor?"

A wide grin lit Cameron's face, that was all that Wilson needed.

"Hey" House smiled at her, how could she have that effect on him? He felt better just seeing that smile. He was supposed to be here to comfort her, not the other way around.

"I missed you today. I can't watch those stupid soaps without you, and then forget watching Jerry Springer…it's no good without the extra snark."

"Wonder-Boy gave me a little extra morphine," He stopped to roll his eyes, "and I couldn't say no to that, slept like a baby! But I woke up starving," indicating the overloaded tray in his lap. Cameron laughed at this, it was so typical House.

"Well, I've got work to do." He exchanged a look with Cameron over House's head, "Call me if you need anything…I'm sure that you won't hesitate House."

"You can go now Wilson."

"Good luck Cameron." House turned to say something in response but Wilson was already gone, the door sliding back into place.

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	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The door had barely closed when House heard it slide open. He was almost afraid to turn around, fearing that his father had somehow followed him. He didn't want anything to upset Cameron and an all out argument between him and his dad was sure to be the thing that would do the trick. Foreman appeared at the end of the bed.

"Hey, I was coming to take you down for your MRI. I want to see if the swelling has gone down any more and get a clearer picture of your injury. The fact that you had a little bit of feeling in your lower extremities is hopeful."

House rolled his eyes at Foreman, "She's a doctor too you know. I think that she would know that any feeling in her legs was a good thing. When did that happen anyway?"

Cameron was the one that answered, "Earlier this morning. I thought that it might be ghost pains, hopeful thinking on my part. But later.."

"I checked her responses this morning, they were slight, but there was a response." Foreman finished for her.

"Why didn't someone inform me?"

"House, you have your own problems, plus you were unconscious when it was discovered. It was right after her visit from your-" Cameron looked at Foreman warningly, but it was too late.

"What visit, from who?" House looked between Foreman and Cameron, clearly Foreman has said too much and wasn't going to venture to bury himself further, not only with Cameron but with House as well. Neither could meet his eyes, he could only guess that his mother or worse his father had come to see Cameron.

"My parents? Did my parents come and see you?"

"Your Dad came to see me. He wanted to see how I was fairing, he knew that we had both been injured in the accident." She didn't want to divulge the entire conversation. She could see that just the fact that his father had come to see her upset him enough.

"He had no right." House looked down and rubbed his forehead with his left hand.

"Seriously, it was nothing. He just wanted to see how I was doing." House gave Cameron a skeptical look, he could tell that she wasn't being entirely truthful, but decided to let it drop.

"So…about that MRI," Foreman said when the conversation had lulled. It was uncomfortable. "I'd really like to get those results so that we can move on with some treatment options."

"Ok, then Foreman, let's go."

Cameron started to protest, "But you just got here…"

"Oh, I'm coming along, as the advising physician." He winked at her.

Cameron saw Foreman roll his eyes behind House as he moved out of the room to arrange for her to be taken to the Imaging Center.

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House was engrossed in Cameron's scans when Cuddy appeared behind him. "The police need to speak to both you and Cameron about the accident. They haven't found the car and need to find out what you remember about that night."

He looked up at her in irritation. "Does it look like I've got time for that right now? It was an accident, a simple hit and run –"

"That's not what the police have gathered from other eye witnesses."

House looked up at her, "What do you mean? Running us off the road was intentional?"

"Yes, House, that's exactly what I mean."

"Do they have any idea who?" She could see him processing the possibilities. "More than likely it would be someone with a beef against me." She barely heard him.

"You don't know that for sure. There are a lot of disturbed people that we treat through the clinic, and Cameron comes in contact with them _way_ more than _you_ do."

House looked at her with a scowl fixed to his face, "How is it that you manage to both try to comfort me and insult me in the very same sentence?"

"Well, it's true isn't it?"

House just nodded his head, his eyebrows going up, "Yeah, yeah. You just don't have to be so happy about it!" Cuddy just snorted and rolled her eyes, Foreman just chuckled, until House threw him a look, and then it conveniently became a coughing fit.

"Anyway, when do you want me to set up the meeting. I think it would be a good idea for both you and Cameron to be there at the same time."

He nodded his head and went back to studying the image. Foreman's hand moved in to point at the area where the swelling had gone down. "Look, I think that is where the pressure is being applied and if we can relieve THAT, she'll could regain full use of her legs again." House nodded his agreement. It would be a risky operation, and if not done correctly could end up paralyzing her further. He thought it worth the risk, but they would have to lay it all down with Cameron. It was ultimately her decision. If this was any normal patient, he would just force the issue.

"Where's Chase? I thought that he would want to be a part of Cameron's treatment." House tried to keep the sneer from his voice, but it was hard. No matter what Cameron said, he would always think that Chase took advantage of her meth high.

Foreman cleared his throat uncomfortably. "I think he's having a hard time getting his head around you and Cameron being 'together'". He had used his fingers making quotation marks when he had said the word together.

"Well, he can get over it." He was looking over Cameron's chart, his brow furrowed in concentration. "She's been running a low grade fever. Do you know what's causing it?" Foreman shook his head. "Well, we'd better find out before anyone goes in around her spinal cord. If it's an infection, I want it resolved," he looked at Foreman, "won't do any good to have her able to walk and then die from a brain infection."

"You know that no matter what, the chance of us infecting her spinal fluid with an infection during the procedure is.."

"I don't care what the chances are," it came out harsher than he intended, when he continued his voice was calmer, "Let's just resolve the low grade fever first. For that, I'm going to need the help of my intensivest. Take me back up to meet with Cameron, page Chase and I'll meet you up in the conference room in two hours." They both watched as the spinal injury team gently lifted Cameron and the backboard that she was bound to, back onto the bed. Foreman guided House's wheelchair out the door, and together they followed Cameron back to her room.

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They had sat in comfortable silence while House had finally eaten his lunch, grumbling the whole time about how it was cold. Cameron quickly reminded him that that was how he liked his Rueben unless that knock on the head had given him a personality change.

"Does it _sound _like I've had a major personality change?" He said this around a mouthful of Rueben, his eyebrows reaching high up on his forehead.

"Not hardly", she was as deadpanned as possible. "So are you going to fill me in with all the gory details from my MRI?"

He thought for a moment, stalling by making a point of chewing his food, he finally looked up at her. "Well, I think it looks good. Foreman agrees, we can see the point of pressure and your spinal cord is intact. The only concern is the low grade fever that you've had going. We want to find out what's causing that first before we proceed any further." She furrowed her brow in thought, he could see that she was starting her own internal differential.

"I'm meeting with Chase and Foreman in about an hour and a half to start the differential." He got an evil glint in his eye when he had said Chase's name, he would enjoy making Chase uncomfortable by flaunting his relationship with Cameron. She must have seen that look on his face.

"Don't rub it in with Chase." Before he could respond, she continued, "I want to be part of the differential, and don't tell me I shouldn't be involved in my own case. I'm going crazy here with boredom, there is only so much TV that I can watch." At the last sentence, he looked as if she had just blasphemed. "Greg, please, I'm going crazy here."

He could only remember a handful of times that she had used his name in the last couple of months that they had been together, he knew that she really wanted to help her own recovery. He just wasn't sure that it was such a good idea.

"I'll talk to Foreman, and get the whiteboard moved down here."

"Thanks."

"You never told me what my Dad said to you exactly."

"Did you get to visit with your parents at all?" He squinted at her.

"Mmmm, answered a question with a question. That's my trick Dr. Cameron."

"I told you the gist of what was said, I can't remember it verbatim." She cocked her eyebrow. "So you didn't answer my question, did you?"

He cocked his head and looked at her, "Nope. Saw my Dad for a minute. Said that he and my Mom would be back tomorrow to visit. The police want to come and talk to the both of us, to see if there is anything of importance that we remember about the accident." Cameron watched him.

"Now you're not telling me something."

He gave her a forced indignant look, but she wasn't falling for it, "Spill it."

"The police seem to think that it could have been intentional from what the cars behind us saw."

She was silent for a moment, trying to think of who would want to do this to them.

House used his left arm to wheel the chair closer to her bed. When he was close enough, he put his good leg on the floor and gripped the bedrail to pull himself up, so that he was standing next to her bed.

Cameron's eyes went wide, "House, Cuddy will kill you if she finds you standing."

He rolled his eyes looking down at her, "Seriously Cameron, has that possibility _ever _effected my behavior?" She giggled at that, but then grew serious, when his head lowered to hers.

"I can't do this if I'm sitting in that chair." His lips touched hers, a light kiss at first, his tongue darted out and her lips parted. Cameron found herself wishing she could lift her hand up around his neck so that her fingertips could run through the hair at the nape of his neck. The last few days trouble seemed to melt as the passion spread through the kiss. They kissed for several more minutes, before a cough behind them interrupted. House straightened up a little too quickly, and swayed, lost his balance and landed unceremoniously back in the wheelchair. He bit his lip when the landing sent shock waves up his leg. He kept his eyes closed for a few minutes, focusing on his breathing.

"House?" Wilson's concerned voice. "You idiot."

"Just give me a minute." He still hadn't opened his eyes, the pain dissipated somewhat, the heating pads were still doing their jobs, he took deep breath and opened his eyes to a couple of very concerned faces. "I'm _fine_. Ever think about _knocking_ Jimmy?"

Wilson was wide-eyed, "You're blaming this on me? You were told not to get out of that chair." House was getting ready for his retort, when Wilson dropped his ace, "Cuddy will never let you up again until she discharges you." An evil smile spread across his face.

"You wouldn't." His face contorted into a comically stricken expression.

"Not if you behave I won't, but one false move and it's", Wilson made a cutting motion across his throat.

House looked over at Cameron, her face was still a little flushed, and she was smiling at him. He leered at her, his eyebrow wagging, "It was totally worth it."

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	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The whiteboard had been set up per House's instructions. Cuddy had barged in at one point demanding to know what was going on, but was soon run out by House. He told her who better to solve Cameron's current medical mystery than himself. She had left with a warning glance to Foreman and Chase that said that they were not to let either patient become overtired. Walking to her office, Cuddy smiled to herself, House being involved with Cameron's case was just the distraction that he needed, and she knew that once deeply involved it would take no less than an act of God to get him out of the hospital. Perfect.

It had been several hours of hashing out Cameron's symptoms, Chase had been productive although quieter than usual. He had had a hard time meeting Cameron's eyes when he had drawn her blood earlier. House had watched it all in interest, he had kept his promise though, he hadn't thrown their relationship into Chase's face. Cameron had noticed it too.

"Alright, well, we'll have to wait until tomorrow for some of the test to be conclusive. Start her on a broad spectrum of antibiotics." He looked over at Cameron, she had already fallen asleep. She looked so peaceful, he could almost forget the seriousness of her situation. He turned his attention back to his remaining team. "You two should head home, I'll need you in here bright and early tomorrow morning with fresh ideas."

"Do you need help getting back to your room?" It had been Foreman that spoke, Chase stopped by the door to look toward him, but didn't offer any help. House couldn't help but be intrigued by the expression on Chase's face, Envy, hate, jealousy, or…guilt?

"House?" He shook his head.

"Nope, I'll get back. Just get those antibiotics ordered. Once they've been administered, I'll head back to my own room." He'd need help getting back, but he didn't want to head back yet, he wanted to sit with Cameron and watch her sleep. Foreman nodded and they both left. A nurse came in shortly after they left and hung a bag of antibiotics. House watched her silently. Once she left, he again maneuvered his chair close to Cameron's bed and took her hand in his, holding it lightly, his thumb drawing circles on the back of her hand. He thought about his parent's visit in the morning, there wasn't any way to get out of seeing them, but he could at least make it as short as possible.

He closed his eyes for a second, god, he was exhausted. Before he knew it, someone was shaking him awake. He woke up and squinted his eyes, groggy from sleep. The first thing he noticed was that he was still holding Cameron's hand, he let her hand go. She was still sound asleep. Wilson was smiling at him.

"Hey, let's get you back to your bed." His voice low to keep from disturbing Cameron.

"What time is it? How did you know I was still in here?" Wilson had managed to deftly guide the wheelchair out of the room and was headed down the hall before he answered.

"Foreman called me about an hour ago and let me know that you were still in Cameron's room, and then about ten minutes ago, the nurse said that you had been sleeping in your chair for about 30 minutes and would I mind coming down and getting you back to your own bed."

"Ahhhh, so now you're moonlighting as an orderly to supplement your income, alimony finally got you, huh?"

"No, it's just that the nurses don't get paid combat duty and they didn't want to risk their lives waking you. You _do_ realize what a miserable, cranky, rude, mean, obnoxious…."

"_Ok_, I get the idea, I'm not the best patient…"

"Actually, I think that I was talking about how you are towards the nursing staff on a daily basis."

"Ha" House was quiet until they got back to his room. He let Wilson help him back into bed. The movement had cost him, he could feel his leg give him a tug of protest.

"That vicodin handy, Jimmy?" Two appeared in his hand, he threw them into his mouth and dry swallowed them with practice, closing his eyes waiting for them to take effect. He felt a blood pressure cuff on his arm, and opened his eyes to see the floor nurse taking his vitals. He was too tired to protest, much to the delight of said nurse.

"Dr. House?" She woke him from dozing. "I need to change the catheter bag," He just nodded as she and Wilson maneuvered him so that she could get it un-taped from his leg. She had a concerned look on her face when she had the bag in her hand. Wilson caught her gaze as she held up the bag, there was barely any urine in it.

"Hang a bad of 9 sodium chloride to get him re-hydrated." Wilson shook House awake again.

"House. House, wake up."

"WHAT?" One eye opening to send a piercing blue stare at Wilson.

"How was your fluid intake today?"

"Normal I guess, I don't know. Why?"

"You're a little dehydrated. I'm hanging a bag of sodium chloride." The nurse was pointing something out in his chart to Wilson. "You're also running a low grade fever."

This sentence brought House fully awake again.

"Wilson, pull my blood and submit it for the same tests that we have scheduled for Cameron." Wilson held his hand up.

"Ok, I'll have her draw your blood, and have it sent to the lab. You need to sleep now. How's your leg? Do you need anything to help you sleep?" He wrote something in he chart and by the time that he even finished his question and looked up, House was asleep. Wilson ran a hand behind his neck, _What the hell was going on?_ With one last look at his sleeping friend, he headed toward his office to make a phone call to Cuddy. He couldn't shake the feeling that both House and Cameron's fevers were related.

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Foreman watched as a late Dr. Chase arrived for the day looking a little rumpled, but with a bounce in his step. It was irritating…their co-workers, their friends were currently hospitalized with a fever of unknown origin..and he came bouncing in without a care in the world and late. "Nice of you to finally show up."

"Hey, I'm only five minutes late, give me a break."

"Maybe you don't understand the gravity of the situation."

Chase spun around to face Foreman. "Of course I understand! But I can't live my whole life here, not anymore. I'm not you or House or Cameron, I have to have some distractions outside of _this_, outside of _them_." Chase looked down, and Foreman didn't know what to say. He knew that Chase still cared about Cameron and seeing her with House, it killed him.

"Chase, she's happy." Chase only nodded at that. "We need to draw some more blood. House is running a low grade fever which presented last night, but might have been present for longer – "

"Vicodin"

Foreman nodded in response, "He could have manifested the fever first and we would have never known. We need to draw more blood, I'll check on House and you check on Cameron. She's been on antibiotics all night, maybe she'll show some improvement."

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House was awoken by a needle prick into his arm. "Hey!" It was meant to come out gruff, but came out as a hoarse whisper. He squinted his eyes open, wanting to bring his good arm up to wipe the sleep from his eyes, only to find that it was restrained. He looked at the offender, a sheepish Foreman was drawing blood.

He didn't wait for House to voice the question. "We're starting you on the same broad spectrum antibiotics that Cameron is on until we can figure out what this is. How are you feeling?"

"Tired." He closed his eyes and took a breath. "My head is killing me, and I'm feeling a little bit nauseous. Any change with Cameron?"

Foreman was looking at House's arm, concern etched his features. "Did you notice this rash last night?"

House looked over at the arm that Foreman was holding, there was a large red rash on his forearm, and then shook his head no, instantly regretting the action.

"We think that you've had the same low grade fever as Cameron, but your vicodin intake masked it, controlling the fever." He gave Foreman an irritated look.

"I know what vicodin _does_." He sat up in bed, "When did Cameron's fever show up? She didn't have one before yesterday?"

"No, all of her vitals were fine before yesterday. What are you thinking?"

"That I had the fever before she did." He looked up to where his IV was hanging, "Have you started me on antibiotics yet?" Foreman shook his head.

"Don't."

"House, what are you talking about?"

"I'll be the control so that we can figure this out. Cameron needs to have that surgery sooner than later." He closed his eyes, the light was too bright in the room. "Any theories. I mean we could have both picked up the infection here." Foreman shook his head.

"Did the blood tests show anything?"

"Not yet. We're taking more blood from both of you this morning." Foreman took a deep breath before he continued, he knew that the next thing he was about to bring up was going to be an uphill battle. "Cuddy thinks that maybe the two of you should take it easy and not be part of the differential."

"Not happening." He was getting ready to continue when the door to his room slid open admitting Wilson followed closely by his parents. His mother came to his bedside and gave him a heartfelt if not awkward hug. She was treating him as if he was glass.

"I'll let you know about the results." With that parting statement, Foreman left.

"Mom, I'm not going to break, I'm fine. You shouldn't worry." His mother took his hand and squeezed it.

"I'm your mother, I'm allowed to worry. It's in my job description." She looked over at her husband smiling, "He looks much better today, doesn't he John?" House chanced a fleeting glance at his father who had taken a chair in the corner of the room. It was just as it was in his childhood, his mother cheery, pointing out the good and his father waiting to catch him alone to let him know that it really wasn't.

His mother could sense the tension automatically, how could she not, she had been their family's stress barometer for 47 years. "John, why don't you run down and get us both a coffee and a roll. I think it would be nice to sit and have breakfast with Greg." At this last comment, she turned to House, "Dr. Wilson said that they should have your breakfast in here in about ten minutes, we could eat with you." Wilson nodded toward House and then followed the Colonel out into the hall.

His father nodded his head and then left for presumably the cafeteria. "Mom, I'm working a case, so I won't have a lot of time to visit. Dr. Cameron is getting ready for surgery, and we need to resolve her fever in order for that to happen." A quick flash of disappointment appeared on Blythe's face, but it faded so quickly, that House wasn't sure if it had been there or not.

"Please, it will make the difference if she'll ever walk again." He reached over and patted his mother's hand.

The Colonel appeared in the doorway with Wilson in tow, each of them carrying a tray.

"Hey, I figured that you would probably never eat what they were bound to bring you, so I brought you pancakes, bacon, sausage, and eggs." He laid the tray on the table in front of House and then helped him adjust the bed so that he could easily eat.

"Coffee?" House sounded irritated.

Wilson was just getting ready to speak when the Colonel interrupted him, "Can't you ever be grateful for anything?" It was the first time that he had spoken to his son since the day before.

House froze, his appetite disappearing under his father's gaze. He put his fork down, the whole tray looked positively unappealing to him.

Wilson watched the interaction with interest, then spoke to break the tension. "Hey, I wanted to bring you some coffee but your attending physician gave it a 'nay' because of your dehydration"

"Ahh, the evil Dr. Cuddy." House smirked a little at Wilson, but still didn't touch his food. The Colonel didn't seem to have a problem, he ate with vigor, as if the confrontation with his son had energized him. Blythe was picking on her muffin, sipping at her coffee watching her son.

"Greg, you need to eat."

"I'm not too hungry this morning, the nurses actually brought me the floor breakfast early and then I fell back to sleep." He didn't meet her eyes when he said it. She didn't believe him, but she also didn't want to upset him further.

"Why didn't you say something? We wouldn't have wasted the time, money and energy on that tray." House's posture became tense, and his left hand came touched his right leg. It was the beginning of a spasm and the last thing that he needed in that room when that happened were his parents.

Before he could say anything, two pills appeared in a cup on his tray. He swallowed them dry, and closed his eyes briefly, waiting for the medicine to take effect. When he opened them, he could see the stern look his father was giving him.

"WHAT?!" Wilson jumped at the sound of House's voice. The Colonel had looked up, his ice blue eyes meeting his son's.

"Nothing. You've let _this_" he waved his hand, his voice was low, calm when he spoke, "beat you, turn you into an addict, not that I'm surprised. You've always looked for the easy way out." Wilson could see House's face turning red, Blythe was staring wide eyed, the cup in her hands was trembling, drops of coffee spilling on her lap, she didn't even notice.

"I think that it would be best if you let Hou-_Greg _rest now. He is working on a case, we are just waiting for test results to come back."

House finally broke his father's gaze and looked down at the discarded breakfast in front of him. He needed to refocus, and not let that man control him. He could hear them gathering their things, and could practically feel his father's anger radiating from across the room. Before he knew it, he felt the calming presence of his mother standing next to him, her hand on his arm.

"We'd better go, Greg. Call me in a few days to let me know how you're doing, please?"

House nodded his head and then looked out the window, hearing the door open and close. He looked around the room, he was alone. Wilson must have followed his parent's out. Wilson, the great peacekeeper, was probably apologizing for his behavior. House readjusted the bed and closed his eyes, he was so tired. A nap would serve two purposes, refresh him and most importantly, save him from another Wilson sermon on the 'evils of being a misanthrope s.o.b.' His last thought before sleep claimed him was of Allison, and it was that thought that eased him into a dreamless sleep.

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Wilson had followed the elder Houses out into the hallway. The Colonel hadn't said anything that Wilson basically hadn't told House himself before, but it was the way that he said it. He knew that it was the pain that dictated his friend's life, and the fear of failure probably even more so, when those two were combined together, it was a deadly combination.

"What was _that_? He's injured, in pain, and you're goading him into a fight?"

Both parents stopped, John House just looked at Wilson, mouth agape, as if surprised that anyone would have the audacity to question his motives….his _authority_, especially where _his _son was concerned.

"It's none of your concern. His anger toward me will end up spurring him on to recovery. The more anger that he has, the more his pushes himself to prove me wrong." Blythe remained quiet next to her husband.

"Mrs. House, surely you don't believe that is the case."

"Let's go, Blythe." Again, the Colonel held his hand in the small of her back, guiding her toward the elevators. She turned, almost reluctantly, towards Wilson and gave a small smile. It was a smile of resignation.

Wilson went back to the room, shaking his head in disbelief. He opened the door, posed to say something comforting or humorous to House, but found that his friend had gone back to sleep. He checked his vitals, he was still running a low temperature, otherwise everything looked good, until he checked the catheter bag, it was still low. After two bags of fluids, it should be filling up. He wrote on the chart and then ordered another bag of saline. He could feel his pager vibrating on his hip, it read simply one word, "CUDDY".

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Cameron awoke similar to House with Chase poking and prodding her to draw more blood. "God, Chase, get a nurse in here, you suck at this."

"Hey, I can't help it if you have rolling veins! Be happy that I'm up here and not Foreman, we had to paper, rock, scissors on who got to get House's blood….", Chase grinned wide, "he lost." Cameron smiled at their antics, and was sure that House wouldn't be too happy if Foreman couldn't draw his blood the first time around.

"Wait why are you taking his blood?"

"Well, House developed a fever last night. How are you feeling this morning?"

"Same. I'm guessing that the bloodwork must have been inconclusive if you are taking more blood."

"The good news is that the antibiotics seem to be working, your fever is gone. We haven't found anything, but maybe testing both your and House's blood we can narrow down what caused it. Actually, Foreman is thinking that House had the infection first and then passed it to you. The fever didn't show because of his vicodin intake. It hid the symptoms from us."

Chase seemed uneasy when he spoke of their boss. Cameron knew that he was uncomfortable with her relationship with House. She watched him as he put a bandage where he had drawn her blood. His hands lingering a little longer and then he stood up and smiled at her, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.

"Cuddy wanted me to let you know that the police will be here this afternoon to question you and House about the accident." He paused and sat in the chair next to her bed. "I know that it will be hard, do you remember much?"

Cameron closed her eyes for a second, trying to visualize, to force her mind to remember. She opened them, and found that Chase was watching her, his gaze intense, yet unreadable.

"The last thing I remember was the car coming up fast behind us….and then nothing until I woke up here."

He watched her for a minute and let out a breath. "I have to know Cameron, does..", he paused and rubbed his hand over his face, "This thing with you….with House, is it serious? Does he treat it seriously or is it a game with him?"

Cameron smiled, she knew that Chase still had feelings for her. "Yes, I think that it's serious. And House…well, he's House, but when he is with me, he's different. I think that he is treading carefully, but it isn't a game, that much I know." Chase nodded once and got up to leave. "Chase?" He turned to look at her. "Thanks for being such a good friend." For a moment, a looked passed over his face that she couldn't identify, but it faded and he smiled.

"Foreman and I will be up after we get the test results. House should be here by then, and maybe we can work it out so that you can get your surgery scheduled."

As Cameron watched him leave, she had a nagging feeling that he was hiding something.

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_House awoke with a start, breathing hard. The room was dark, pitch black. His eyes were wide trying to draw in light. He moved his hand toward the edge of the bed and felt someone there, he gasped, and moved toward the other side of the bed. The light came on, and he shielded his eyes from it's brightness. Cameron looked up at him, her hair messy, eyes squinting at him in concern. _

"_Greg?" When he backed away toward the headboard of the bed, she became fully awake, "Greg, what's wrong?"_

"_I'm dreaming, or was dreaming." His voice was barely above a whisper, he shook his head, rubbing his forehead with his right hand and then laughed a little nervously. She moved toward him on the bed, her hand coming up to cup his cheek, his hand covering hers. "You're alright. Really alright." He pulled her to him, holding her tightly. A wave of relief rushing through him as he held her tight, nuzzling his face into her neck, kissing her lightly there. She returned the embrace, he was scaring her a little. It was obvious that he had had a nightmare, he'd had them before, but none of them had affected him this deeply. His let out a shaky breath that he hadn't known that he was holding. _

_Cameron pulled back from his embrace so that she could look at him face to face, she kissed him lightly on the lips and then lowered her forehead to his. "I'm fine. You're fine. Everything's fine." She smiled and straddled him, on her knees she put her hands on both sides of his face and then leaned in, her lips met his, her tongue gently caressing his lips, until they opened. He could feel her fingers brushing gently through the hair at the nape of his neck, pulling him even closer. Her warm naked body against his body, her wetness against his growing erection. He moaned into her mouth as their kiss intensified. He gasped, something wasn't right. Cameron pulled back, concern written on her face. _

_  
"What's going on? Is it your leg?" He shook his head, grimacing, he closed his eyes. When he opened them, Cameron was standing across the room, a sweet smile on her face, her body bathed in the moonlight, he smiled back..._

"Cameron?" He whispered, a small smile playing on his lips, he opened his eyes to the dimmed light of a hospital room. _Dammit._

He grimaced when he realized that the catheter combined with his excitement was causing his discomfort. It didn't help that Wilson was standing next to his bed with a big stupid grin on his face. "Good dream?" House couldn't help the blush that crept up his face.

"Wilson…", he tried to put as much menace as he could in his voice, where was his cane when he needed it, Wilson's shins were just _begging_ to be whacked.

"I'm just saying, that you should be careful, did you know that you talk in your sleep? Be glad it was me standing here and not Nurse Brenda", and evil grin lit his face, "or better Cuddy."

House rolled his eyes, "What time is it?"

"It's around 2."

"What?! Why didn't you wake me up? I promised Allison that I would be there for the differential." He was pushing the blankets down and trying to unhook all of the plugs that were attached to him.

"Whoa, House." His hands moving to his friends shoulders. "Cameron is fine, her fever is gone, the antibiotics seemed to have done the trick. She's more worried about you. I started you on the same antibiotics, in fact, the nurse just hung the second bag. We just got your fever under control about a half an hour ago. I didn't wake you because you weren't sleeping …you were unconscious." House pushed Wilson's hands off of him, eyeing him suspiciously.

"How do I know that _this_ isn't really the dream?" His eyes were glassy from the fever.

Wilson held his hands up in defeat. "It's not, you're just going to have to trust me on that. How are you feeling? You aren't responding as quickly as I would like." He watched as House closed his eyes and breathed through his nose, his complexion had gone pale. "Hey, talk to me."

"I think I'm going to be sick." It was barely audible through his gritted teeth, Wilson grabbed the emesis dish next to his bed and helped his friend turn to his side as he emptied his stomach. He could see down the scrub top with House turned toward him and alarms went off, the rash had spread all the way down his back. Wilson pushed the call key and within moments a nurse had appeared at the door.

"I need you to page Drs. Cuddy, Foreman, and Chase, immediately." He looked back down at House, his dry heaves had stopped, and a thin sheen of sweat covered his body from the effort. Wilson could feel the heat radiating from him, _why aren't the antibiotics working like they had for Cameron?_ _He's on his second bag. _House shivered underneath his hands as he helped him lie down on his back, his teeth slightly chattering.

"I'm fr-freezing, Oh GOD, my head - ." House closed his eyes, his hand going to his head, what was happening?

Wilson grabbed the blanket from the end of the bed and covered his friend, trying to remain the doctor. He had just grabbed the digital thermometer from the side of the bed and put it in House's mouth to get his temp, he looked up at them but before he could say anything, the machine beeped. His eyes widened at the display….104. Cuddy had just entered the room, closely followed by Chase and Foreman.

"We've got to get some ice bags in here! He's burning up, his fever just spiked to 104."

Cuddy looked at him in disbelief. "That's impossible, you just said that his fever was under control!"

"I know what I said, but now it's not."

"Hey….I'm r-right h-here." Both Cuddy and Wilson turned to see a chattering House looking at them, trying to scowl but failing miserably. His eyes rolled back into his head as he lost consciousness.

Foreman and Chase both came in with ice packs, a nurse following them with a cart full. They both began placing them all over House, emptying some of the ice directly on him to try to bring the fever down.

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Cameron had paged everyone that she could think of, yet no one had answered her. She had even resorted to putting a 911 on Wilson's pager, but a nurse appeared in his stead to make sure that she was alright. It was at this point that she lost her temper.

"Where is Dr. Wilson?", the nurse had the decency to look a little flustered. "I want to know what's going and I want to know it right now!"

"Dr. Cameron…you're not supposed to get excited, too much activity – ", the nurse barely had time to duck as a cup that had been sitting near Cameron flew towards her head. She ducked out, no matter what, she wasn't going to go back into that room. She could still hear Dr. Cameron shouting from inside her room from the nurses station. "Dr. Wilson, I think that you had better get down here." She snapped her head up just in time to see the pitcher of water hitting the glass door, "And you'd better hurry before Dr. Cameron takes the room apart." A second floor nurse had joined her at the desk. "Dr. House and Dr. Cameron…surprisingly…made for each other."

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	11. Chapter 11

Cameron had thrown everything that was in arms reach and then just stared at the ceiling and stewed. Something had happened, something bad had happened, otherwise, why wouldn't anyone bother to answer any of her pages. Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard the door to her room slide open. Wilson walked in, he surveyed the damage and his hands automatically came to his hips. Cameron had seen the same gesture whenever Wilson had to deal with House.

"Are you done with the hysterics? I swear, House is rubbing off on you." The last part was partially mumbled under his breath, as he rubbed his hand behind his neck. Cameron just rolled her eyes at him.

"Where's House? He hasn't been here all day, and no one will tell me anything!"

"He improved like you did once a bag of antibiotics was hung this morning, after your fever was gone." Wilson looked uncomfortable

"BUT, BUT WHAT?! Come on Wilson! What happened?!"

"You have to stay calm. He's fine now. His fever came back along with a headache and a rash. Cuddy seems to think that the rash was caused by an allergic response to an acute reaction to the penicillin, she changed the antibiotic to erythromycin, and he's resting comfortably, his fever is down considerably." He didn't want to fill in all the details, especially the part where they had to practically dunk him in an ice bath to gain control over the fever flare up.

"I want to see him." She said flatly, not leaving any room for argument.

"Allison….we can't move you, and he's sleeping." She blinked her eyes, trying to keep them from tearing up, turning her face away from Wilson. He moved to her bedside and put a comforting hand on her arm.

"Listen, I know that this has been hard, but honestly, things are getting better. Your fever is gone and Foreman is up in Neurology right now scheduling your surgery. If he gets his way, you'll go in tomorrow morning." She still hadn't faced him. "I'll go check on House, he'll want to see you when he wakes up. If Cuddy gives the ok, I'll bring him over for a visit."

"I want his bed moved into this room. It would be better for him….better for _me_." The last part was barely a whisper.

"Cameron, if he is still contagious….it could jeopardize your chance of surgery, and you know the longer it gets put off, the less your odds will be for a full recovery. House would never forgive himself….he'll never forgive me….and you know that's true."

The door slid open again, and Foreman appeared with a smiling Chase in tow.

"Good news, Cameron! We have your surgery scheduled for first thing tomorrow morning. I'm going to have the nurse come in to get your pre-surgical blood draws and from there."

"Everything ok?" He looked from Cameron to Wilson, his brow knitted in concern. Then he noticed all of the things that had been flung all over the room.

"Ya, just threw a House tantrum." She smiled at both of them.

"Well, surprisingly _that _explains everything." Foreman cocked an eyebrow at her and smirked.

"Cuddy said that the police contacted her again about coming to interview you and House. Do you think that you'll be up to it later this afternoon?"

Before she could say anything, Wilson held up his hand, "I'm sure that you and House would be more comfortable if they interviewed you together. The police picked up the security tapes from the night of the benefit, looking to see if anyone looks suspicious or out of place. There were a record number of people at this one, even Cuddy can't identify every guest."

"They _really _don't think that it was just a hit and run?"

"At this point, I think that they just want to cover all of their bases." He patted her hand, "I'm going to go and check on House's progress, I'll let Cuddy know if he feels up to being interviewed by the police, and then get back to you with a time. Cameron, try not to worry, ok?"

"Ok." She didn't sound so sure, but it was as much as she could give. Foreman approached her bed, and leaned over.

"Listen, you know House, he's tough and his immune system is a little compromised by the constant vicodin use, so it's just taking a little longer than you to recover. The new antibiotic really seems to be working."

"So, about tomorrow. Are you sure?"

"I'm afraid the longer that we wait, the greater the possibility of irreparable nerve damage. Someone will come in tomorrow morning at six to start prepping you for surgery. I've ordered all of the pre-surgical bloodwork today, with another round of bloodwork gathered tomorrow morning. I don't want to take any chances with the infection coming back, or something new attacking your immune system."

Chase was behind Foreman – his face looked bright, but Cameron could tell that he was uneasy.

"You're right." She was only half listening, intent on observing Chase.

"Hey, I'd better get back upstairs and make sure that they have everything squared away for tomorrow morning." He looked from Cameron to Chase sensing the unspoken tension between them. He'd have to get it out of Chase later on over a beer. "Chase, we'll need another blood draw on House before this evening." Chase nodded absently as Foreman left.

Cameron felt that he wasn't telling her something. He stood for a moment debating with himself, she could see the internal war waging inside of him. She didn't say anything, he paced the room a couple of times and then sat down in the chair next to her bed.

"Cameron…I – I have to tell you something." He didn't look at her, instead he staired down at the floor, his voice low as he spoke. Cameron felt the hair on he back of her neck prickle. "The night of the accident…the night of the benefit….Oh God, I'm so, so sorry, this is all my fault." He rose to his feet quickly and paced the room again.

Cameron's brow knotted in confusion. "Chase what are you talking about?"

"The accident!" He was now pacing faster, obviously agitated, his hand running through his hair.

"What about the accident? Chase! What are you saying? How could _you_ be at any fault?" He looked at her, and she could feel the guilt radiating out of him. She willed herself to absorb, to understand exactly what he was saying.

"Chase?" He was again sitting next to her.

"Cameron, believe me, I didn't know. A man came up at the benefit and asked me to point out House." He stopped and ran his hand over his face. "So I did, I didn't think anything about it until later. He just stood at the bar and watched him. I lost track of him until the end of the evening when we were all getting ready to leave." He looked at his hands. "I saw you both leaving on the bike when the same man approached me again and I pointed to the bike telling him that he had missed him. He didn't look too happy when he rushed toward the parking lot."

"Chase, you don't know if he had anything to do with it, and if he did, how would you have known?" He hand brushed against his hand. "You need to tell this to Cuddy and the police, if he was involved they will be able to take action. Anyone could have pointed House out…anyone at all. In fact, did you think that maybe you weren't the only one that he asked?"

Chase shook his head. "Maybe, if I hadn't been paying so much attention to Debbie, I would have noticed."

"Debbie, huh? New nurse?" Chase lifted his head, a slight smile on his face.

"Yes, she's actually assigned to the nurses station that is monitoring House. Please don't tell him, he'll torture her first and then me, and our relationship is still pretty new."

Cameron smiled at him, glad that they were able to at least return to some sort of normality. "Really, Chase, stop blaming yourself."

"Listen, I'd better let you rest, you're going to have a big day tomorrow." He stood next to her bed, giving her hand a little squeeze, "Good luck, Cameron." He leaned over and kissed her forehead lightly.

"HEY! That's my girl, get your own!" Chase jumped slightly, he hadn't heard the door slide open. He turned to see a cross looking House glaring at him as he was being pushed in his chair by Wilson, the glare was intensified by the blue face mask that House was wearing.

"He was just wishing me luck, and I need all that I can get." She smiled gently at Chase.

"Well, I better go make sure that your blood work is completed and in the system. See you tomorrow morning, Cameron." With that, Chase made a swift escape, he didn't want to face House's wrath when Cameron told him about the mysterious man.

Wilson pushed House closer, she could see how pale he was, his eyes a little glassy.

"How are you feeling? I hear that tomorrow is the big day for the surgery." House brought his hand up to cover hers, as Chase moved to stand at the end of the bed.

"I'm fine. I'd ask how you are, but you wouldn't tell me anyway. Heard that you've had a rough time. Why the mask, so you still think that you are contagious?"

"Don't want to take any chances of re-infected you. Ahh, rumors of my recent relapse were highly exaggerated. Just needed to catch up on my beauty sleep, have to keep my strength up for, you know." The last part he said out of the side of his mouth while wagging his eyebrows at Cameron. Wilson rolled his eyes behind House.

"Well, at least you sound like yourself, the mask is kind of sexy." House's eyebrows shot up at her statement. She was so glad to see him.

"I'll remember that once we get out of here."

"And with _that, _I'm out of here. I'm going to be back with Cuddy and the detectives at 4. I know that you want this behind you both." They both nodded at Wilson as he left.

"I heard that you threw a tantrum worthy of my own," he stopped to look around and then a delighted grin hit his face, "Wow, you made a mess, must have scared the hell out of the nurses."

"Don't look so happy, I'm not proud of myself for that little outburst."

"What?! It's great!" He put his hand to his heart and wiped an imaginary tear from his eye, "My protégé. How can you tell that I'm happy, you can't even see my mouth."

Cameron laughed at his antics, "I can see it in your eyes. You're such a jerk."

"So I've been told on _numerous _occasions."

They were silent a minute, Cameron turned to look at the window, wondering how she was going to broach what Chase had told her. She knew that House tended to fly off the handle, especially where Chase was concerned. Turning back toward him, she could see his concerned face.

"We need to talk before the detectives get here, I have to tell you something."

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	12. Chapter 12

House didn't respond to Cameron's statement, he just stared at her, so she continued.

"Chase was in earlier", the blue of House's eyes darkened slightly, his brows furrowed, as Cameron continued, "Apparently the night of the Benefit, a man approached him asking him to point you out. It may be nothing, but that's why he has been so distant since the accident. He thinks that it was somehow his fault. I told him that he couldn't have known, and it's not even definite that the man was even involved. He is meeting with the detectives down in Cuddy's office." She watched House intently, and then his eyes stared off into nowhere, as if he was having a case solving epiphany, he shook his head slightly, his hand coming up to rub across his face.

"House?" He looked up at her, his eyes slightly glassy, fevered.

"If you hadn't –"

She stopped him, "I _chose_ to go with you. We don't even know if this is even a reality. It could have been a benefactor, curious as to who you were. Please don't .." She was interrupted when the sliding door opened and Dr. Cuddy peeked her head in.

"Are you two up speaking with the Detectives?" Both nodded as Cuddy came in followed by the two detectives, Foreman and very jumpy Chase. Chase kept his gaze focused on his feet, avoiding House's stern gaze.

"Drs House and Cameron, these are Detectives Posey and Murphy. They have a few questions." Cuddy glanced at Chase, he was standing in the corner. She had convinced him to come that it would be better if he came up with her and the Detectives and face House. He hadn't done anything wrong, except that he should have come forward sooner. She returned her focus on what, Detective Posey, a tall dark haired man, was saying.

"Dr. Chase will be reviewing the security tapes to help identify the person who was asking about you Dr. House. If we can interview him, it may or may not shed some light on the situation." He cleared his throat, a little uncomfortable at the intense glare that House was watching him with. It made the detective nervous, more so than normal, because House hadn't said a word yet, it may have been the doctor's body language, his hand gripping the wheelchair so tightly that his knuckles were white. The detective continued, looking from House to Cameron.

"We would like for each of you to tell us what you remember from that evening – no matter how trivial it may seem to you now. Anything out of the ordinary." He stopped and looked a the glass doors opened once again, admitting Wilson. He nodded toward House, an unspoken show of support, House gave an imperceptive nod.

Cameron spoke first, and House turned toward her. Her voice was quiet, but strong. "It was my idea to take the bike – it was just such a beautiful winter night, even with the snow falling." She stopped and closed her eyes, a faint smile brushed on her lips. She opened them and glanced at House, before focusing her attention on the detective. "I don't remember seeing anyone paying any special attention to us. It was all so sudden, bright headlights appearing behind us – so incredibly close that I remember thinking how the car seemed to appear out of nowhere." The detectives looked at each other as they took notes. "It was just THERE, I don't know how else to describe it." She looked to House, as if looking for confirmation, he nodded his head. "I remember Gr-House pulling closer to the shoulder to let them pass – instead the car pulled up next to us – I tried to see inside." Her brow was furrowed in thought. "I think that there was only the driver – that's all I remember until I woke up here." She looked again at House – he was staring at the floor – his face a little flushed from what she could see above the mask, he raised his head to look at her, his eyes a little glassy. She wondered if his fever had returned.

"Dr. House, anything to add?" Detective Posey has been watching intently. He knew hat the doctor was carrying a lot of guilt – guilt that no one, but the doctor, could absolve.

"I hadn't thought about I – but she's right, the car just materialized behind us. I check my mirrors constantly, especially when I have a passenger." He glanced at Cameron and then continued. "Morons on the road tend to have a blind eye when it comes to motorcycles. I don't remember a lot of details – concussions are a BITCH – "

"HOUSE!" Cuddy hissed, rolling her eyes.

He continued as if she hadn't spoken. "Hence, my details are fuzzy, I was basically just trying to keep the bike on the road. If – if I had known – I would have outrun him, turned around – I'd have done _something – ANYTHING_ – to avoid this –" His hand waved between Cameron and himself. He focus went back to the floor, his energy sapped. Detective Posey cleared his throat.

"Ok, well if you think of anything," he glanced around the room, "if any over you think of anything, please don't hesitate to contact us. Dr. Cuddy has all of our information."

Detective Murphy nodded, he had been silently observing to this point. "Another thing – I'd like for each of you to review the security tapes – looking for anything or anyone that seems unusual or out of place." All heads in the room nodded and the detectives quietly left the room, as soon as the door slid shut, Cuddy spoke.

"As soon as the security tapes arrive, I'll make them available to everyone. Cameron, we'd better let you rest. You have a pretty big day tomorrow. House – another half hour and hen I'm sending your keeper," she indicated Wilson, "to come and round you up. You need to rest." He was just getting ready to open his mouth to protest when Cuddy held her hand up. "I know that you'll want to be involved tomorrow with Cameron's procedure, but only if your attending physician approves." She smiled wickedly.

"Yes, Mommy" House whispered, not wanting to temp fate and really piss Cuddy off. "I'd like to spend the last half hour talking to Cameron _without_ an audience. So scram."

Both Cuddy and Wilson left, giving the couple some privacy.

MDMDMDMDMD

Chase sat watching the security video in Cuddy's office, although he was having trouble concentrating with the detectives and Cuddy watching him. He glanced toward them, his sweaty hands clamped together in his lap.

"Anything?" Chase through Cuddy an irritated glance, she had asked that same question every few minutes. He shook his head, and went back to the screen, and froze.

"Wait! Back it up…I – I think I …that's him...I'm almost positive of it." Cuddy and the Detectives were right behind him staring at the screen. "Where's the remote?" As it was shoved into his hand, Chase scanned back to the man's appearance, freezing it and then slowly moving the tape forward frame by frame until the man's face was illuminated.

"Can you zoom it?" It was Cuddy's voice, very close to his left ear, so close that he felt the puff of air. A couple of clicks later and the face enlarged on the screen. An audible gasp was heard from beside him.

"I – I think I spoke to the same man earlier in the evening." Cuddy paced her office, her brows furrowed in concentration.

Chase turned his attention from the blurry image on the screen to Dr. Cuddy, "Did he ask you about House?"

"I don't know, frankly, a lot of people asked about House that evening." She smirked, and then scoffed, "Trust me, I didn't point in his direction, the last thing I needed that evening, was for him to say something inappropriate to a potential donor."

"Let's get this image processed back at the lab, we can probably sharpen the image and then print it out." Detective Posey turned his attention toward Cuddy, "How were guests processed into the event?"

"It was a fundraising dinner, we had a listing of attendees, and they were required to present their invitation in order to be admitted." She turned suddenly to the monitor again, "Name tags….everyone got name tags. If we could only see…"

"Now that we know who we are looking for, I can get the lab to run it through our facial recognition software. Maybe there are other images of this individual. I'll email the sharpened image to you for distribution, see if anyone recognizes him. In the meantime, can you get me a roster from that evening?"

Cuddy nodded her head. She wished that she could remember what she and that gentleman had spoken about. Nothing stood out to her that could be considered suspicious.

"Yes, I'll get the event coordinator to send that to you." She continued to stare at the image on the screen, as did Chase.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Thanks for all the great reviews. I'm writing as fast as I can before writer's block hits again…**

They had sat in a comfortable silence, some obscure television running as background noise. Cameron turned to look at House, he faced the TV but she could see by the expression on his face, that he was miles away, lost in his own thoughts.

"Hey, what are you thinking about?" House turned to focus on her, and shook his head.

"Nothing. It's just that I can't figure out where the infection came into play. You were given antibiotics and it killed the infection, without a problem. I've gotten 4 rounds of antibiotics, but nothing is touching it. I get better for a while and then it hits me again. I'm missing something…."

"Why don't you have more blood drawn from both of us, see what antibodies I'm producing…Wilson said that you had had an allergic reaction to the penicillin, has it improved since you've been given doxycyline?"

"It improves and then relapses the next day."

Her brow crinkled in thought, running the symptoms on the imaginary whiteboard that she had set up in her head. "We should run a differential, Foreman –"

"First, let's get you through tomorrow. I'm sure that this is all just my weakened system getting it's just deserve. I've felt better today, and I'm scheduled for another bag of IV antibiotics once I get back to my room." He looked around the room uncomfortably, he wasn't really quite sure how to proceed, he had always been a little awkward when it came to voicing or showing any of his emotions. He cleared his throat and looked at her. She had a smirk on her face and a dreamy look in her eyes.

"What?"

"Nothing…I was just thinking about you and me…once this is all done…we'll definitely have a little down time…you know… to recover", her smile widened as she looked at him, "I thought we could rent one of those beach houses…have a little..wine, sit on the deck listen to the ocean –"

"Bikini?" His eyebrows shot up into his hair line.

"Sure, wear what you like."

"Funny." He was happy that she was thinking of the future, of a future that involved him and he hoped that it went exactly like that. He didn't care where they were, as long as they were together, _and hopefully naked._

"You know I can tell when you are thinking about us naked." Cameron giggled, and House smirked, she knew him too well. They again sat in silence. She could tell that he was beginning to wane, but he would never admit it, she'd have to give him a reason. She yawned, giving him the opportunity of an out.

"I'd better let you get to sleep, I want you well rested for the surgery tomorrow, not worrying about me. It's working itself out."

"I'll page the nurse, she can get Wilson to take you back to the room." Her hand reached for his, and he took it, rubbing his thumb across the back of her hand. It was so soft, he stared at their joined hands until she spoke softly, "Hey". He looked up at her, he could see the love in her eyes as she smiled at him. "You can't worry about me either, everything will go fine tomorrow."

He nodded, and then looked toward the tv, "I know."

The nurse peeked her head into the room. "Can you page Dr. Wilson, please?"

"I guess this is it until tomorrow morning. I'll be here before they take you down and then Wilson is going to take me up to the observation area…." His voice trailed off and he looked away, feeling awkward.

Cameron watched him thoughtfully for a minute, he was so pale and a sheen of sweat had coated his forehead. "You need your rest…"

"I'll be there Allison, I can't….I can't _not_ be there."

She nodded her head in understanding, a lump in her throat, he had never really vocalized his feelings for her, instead his actions would relay how he felt about her. "I want you there, it will give me peace of mind, I'm just worried about you is all."

There was a slight knock on the glass door and then Wilson peeked his head in. House rolled his eyes, "What's the point of knocking, if you aren't going to wait for the all clear. Haven't we talked about this before? We could have been _busy_."

It was Wilson's turn to roll his eyes, hands on hips. "Please." Cameron let out a little giggle from her bed.

"Hey, I'll see you tomorrow morning before you go in ok?"

"Sure, get some rest, more antibiotics…I'm planning on a workout once I get back on my feet."

House smiled at her, his eye brow arching and he growled, which produced a groan from the long suffering Wilson, his face slightly red.

"Ok, that's enough, I'm starting to feel physically ill. We'll see you tomorrow, Cameron."

MDMDMDMDMDMD

Once out of the room, House slumped in his chair. He didn't have to pretend anymore, sitting with Cameron had sapped a lot of his strength. Wilson put a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder and as was alarmed to feel heat emanating from him. House removed the mask from his face, taking a deep breath of cool fresh air, shuddering a little bit.

"House?" Wilson couldn't help the concern that came through that simple question, all he received in response was a grunt, as House further hunched over in the chair, his left hand coming up to his chest. Wilson knelt down so that they were face to face, his friends eyes were squinted shut, his face a mask of pain, "House, is it the leg?"

"My chest", it was whispered through clenched teeth, and Wilson immediately took his stethoscope to listen. His friend's breathing was becoming labored. Wilson's brow furrowed in disbelief, how could he be exhibiting another puzzling symptom?

"I need a gurney and some help over here!" As nurses and orderlies surrounded House, Wilson paged Chase and Foreman, this wasn't an ordinary infection, while listening to House's heart, he could see that the rash had spread and was now a dark red. They had him on a gurney and were transporting him to an empty ICU room. As the flurry of activity buzzed around House, Foreman and Chase came running from the elevator.

"What's happened?" Foreman asked as he rushed by to check his boss's vitals. The nurse standing next to him rattled off his stats. Foreman shook his head, watching as once again House was surrounded by cooling blankets and ice to control the spiking fever. "Why isn't the antibiotic working?"

"The rash, fever…could he be allergic to the current antibiotic?" Chase stood next to him, nothing was adding up. Cameron's infection had disappeared within a day and it was mild. They both had suspected that House initially had the infection, but as time had passed, it was becoming evident that this infection was a totally different, maybe it was never the same as Cameron's. "Whatever it is…it's progressing FAST!"

tbc


	14. Chapter 14

REOCCURRING FEVER

REOCCURRING FEVER

CHEST PAINS/HEART MURMUR

RASH

ACHING JOINTS

HEADACHE

BLURRY VISION

DEHYDRATION

DECREASED KIDNEY FUNCTION

Chase, Wilson and Cuddy sat staring at the white board and the listed symptoms, when Foreman walked in the conference room doors, and picked up a marker.

"Two new symptoms, blood in the urine, and a swollen abdomen." Foreman looked at his co-workers waiting for the differential to start.

"I've scheduled him for a round of tests, repeated blood culture and sensitivity, CBC, ECG, echocardiogram, sonogram and a chest x-ray." Foreman shook his head, "I think that the infection has spread to his heart."

"Shit." Foreman could barely hear Wilson's hissed expletive.

"He's been on IV antibiotics for several days. This is either a super virus or he's being re-infected by something in the hospital." Chase was on a roll, he hardly noticed the other people in the room as he stood up to pace the length of the conference room. "We need to treat House like any other patient. What if the infection started before his injury? We should check his apartment."

Wilson stood as well, "I've got a key, so that eliminates the problem of breaking in."

"Let's go." Chase didn't wait for Wilson's agreement, he stood and went to get his coat on, the quicker that they could gather clues, the quicker that they could solve the puzzle.

"I'll help Foreman run the tests." Cuddy stood, feeling better that they were taking some action. Wilson stopped by the door and turned to look at her. "What if you don't find anything? We'll need to ask Cameron - " Wilson stopped her with a shake of his head.

"No- she just needs to focus on being positive before the surgery, and on top of that House wants to be there tomorrow morning before Cameron goes in. I think that she'll do better in the surgery if she is allowed to see him, and he will be more cooperative with any treatment that we've decided." Cuddy nodded her head, she'd have to work around that. The testing would probably take most of the night, and Cameron's surgery was scheduled for early the next morning.

MDMDMDMDMD

House awoke bleary eyed, teeth chattering, his body ached all over. He groaned when he was finally able to open his eyes. The sounds of machines filled his head, he was in the CCU. His brow furrowed in confusion.

"House?" Cuddy's face swam into his vision, he closed his eyes and then reopened them, "House can you hear me?"

He nodded, not trusting his voice. His eyes shifted to the cup of ice on the bed tray, Cuddy followed his line of site, grabbing the cup and putting an ice chip to his parched lips. House closed his eyes, focusing on the coldness of the ice chip, trying to concentrate on what was happening. Pain, it radiated throughout his body, pain that he wasn't used to, his leg felt no better or worse.

"House, we are drawing some more blood," she nodded at the technician, "Your infection isn't responding to the antibiotics like we expected." The last part earned her an eye roll. She fed him another chip as she continued, "Foreman has you scheduled for an ECG, echocardiogram and chest x-ray – "

"He thinks it's my heart." His voice was weak and raspy, it wasn't a question, but Cuddy answered it regardless.

"Yes."

"List the other symptoms." It wasn't a request, it was an order. He closed his eyes so that he could give them his full attention as Cuddy rattled them off, and he added them to his internal white board. He was having trouble concentrating, every diagnosis that he had thought of would have been wiped out by the antibiotics administered. Had he been given so much antibiotic that it had boxed his kidneys?

"I've got to see Cameron before she goes into surgery. She can't know that something is wrong…" Cuddy was staring at him open mouthed and started, but House shook his head, "You know that whole positive thoughts before a surgery?"

Cuddy rolled her eyes and paged Wilson, she knew that they weren't going to get out of this, and House probably did have a point. It wouldn't do for Cameron to go into the surgery worried about House.

"And how to you propose we do that? Don't you think that your condition will be a big tip-off that something is seriously wrong with you?" Cuddy stood back, her hand on her hips.

"You could pump me full of antibiotics, fluids, and amphetamines-", but Cuddy cut him off.

"You know we can't do that, it could exacerbate your current condition, especially your heart!"

"I _have_ to do it!" House shut his eyes, and took a deep breath, this argument was taking a toll on his strength. "Just get me up and running long enough to see her off, and then I'll do what you say." When he opened his eyes, Cuddy's brows were knitted in concern, and then she smirked a little while shaking her head.

"Liar." His eyes widened and his mouth opened to retort, but she cut him off "You won't do what I say."

He smirked himself and shrugged, "I'll be too sick to argue, so you'll win by default."

"That's more like it. Ok, we'll do it your way, but only so that you see her for a few minutes before she goes in, and then we need to find out what is causing your symptoms…understand?" Cuddy paused as she watched House nod weakly. "Good, now get some rest."

"Cuddy..", She turned as she heard him say her name, "When they go to search my apartment, tell them to bring my spare ipod." Before she could respond, he had drifted to sleep. Her eyes ran across his vitals, even in sleep his heart rate was slightly elevated, his fever was lower than before, but still not normal. She could only hope that his team could figure out what was wrong, and that they could keep his illness from Cameron, at least until after her surgery. _God House, you have the worst luck. _


End file.
